Let go

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Reid gave A&R Joshua Sarubin the responsibility of overseeing Lavigne’s development and the recording of her debut album. They spent several months in New York working with different co-writers, trying to forge an individual sound for her. Sarubin told HitQuarters that they initially struggled; although early collaborations with songwriter-producers including Sabelle Breer, Curt Frasca and Peter Zizzo resulted in some good songs, they did not match her or her voice. It was only when Lavigne then went to Los Angeles in May 2001 and created two songs with The Matrix production team—including « Complicated », later released as her debut single—that the record company felt she had made a major breakthrough. Lavigne worked further with The Matrix and also with singer-songwriter Cliff Magness. Recording of Lavigne’s debut album, Let Go, finished in January 2002.

Lavigne released Let Go in June 2002 in the US, where it reached number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It peaked at number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK—this made Lavigne, at 17 years old, the youngest female soloist to have a number-one album on the UK Albums Chart at that time. By the end of 2002, the album was certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA, making her the bestselling female artist of 2002 and Let Go the top-selling debut of the year. By May 2003, Let Go had accumulated over 1 million sales in Canada, receiving a diamond certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association. By 2009, the album had sold over 16 million units worldwide. By March 2018, the RIAA certified the album seven-times Platinum, denoting shipments of over seven million units in the US.

Lavigne’s debut single, « Complicated », peaked at number one in Australia and number two in the US. « Complicated » was one of the bestselling Canadian singles of 2002, and one of the decade’s biggest hits in the US, where subsequent singles « Sk8er Boi » and « I’m with You » reached the top ten. With these three singles, Lavigne became the second artist in history to have three top-ten songs from a debut album on Billboard‘s Mainstream Top 40 chart. Lavigne was named Best New Artist (for « Complicated ») at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, won four Juno Awards in 2003 out of six nominations, received a World Music Award for « World’s Bestselling Canadian Singer », and was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for « Complicated ».

In 2002, Lavigne made a cameo appearance in the music video for « Hundred Million » by the pop punk band Treble Charger. In March 2003, Lavigne posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and in May she performed « Fuel » during MTV’s Icon tribute to Metallica. During her first headlining tour, the Try to Shut Me Up Tour, Lavigne covered Green Day’s « Basket Case ».