Avril Lavigne Is Back. If You Believe That.

Goodbye, online conspiracy theory. Welcome back, Avril Lavigne.

Lavigne — the Canadian singer whose hits like “Sk8er Boi” and “Complicated” made her a mainstay of the early 2000s — appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast this week to promote a greatest hits album out next month, a new tour and a performance at Glastonbury, Britain’s biggest music festival.

She also used the appearance to tell fans that she is alive and herself.

And that she was most definitely not replaced by a body double named Melissa Vandella after dying more than 20 years ago.

The power of the internet

The bizarre conspiracy theory has popped up occasionally, yet consistently, around the internet for much of Lavigne’s career, and the publicity around her new tour has ignited another round of attention.

Many online explainers have traced its origin to Brazil, and a 2011 blog post that uses Lavigne’s lyrics and photos of her to make an argument that “Melissa” took Lavigne’s place after the success of her debut album “Let Go.”

After a BuzzFeed News report drew attention to the theory, it appeared in mainstream press roundups of conspiracy theories, from the Guardian, to Rolling Stone, to the BBC. It also has its own Wikipedia entry.

For the record: There is no proof for this conspiracy theory.

‘So. Your name is Avril Lavigne.’

On “Call Her Daddy,” hosted by Alex Cooper — herself an icon of the 2020s who said she grew up listening to Lavigne’s music — the singer said she didn’t think the conspiracy theory was that bad in the grand scheme of things.