Her debut album has not even been released yet, but Lucy Woodward is already getting compared to Avril Lavigne. Woodward, 26, is a songwriter and guitarist who sings about personal experiences, just like Lavigne. But the similarities stop there.

“They compare us because we’re white girls who sing with electric guitars. That’s all we have in common,” she tells andPOP, on the line from New York. “We come from very different places. We have friends in common. She does her own thing. She’s like a punk skater girl. But I have more experiences in life, just like anyone who’s an 18 year old and a 26 year old.”

Being a blonde, female, pop vocalist, it is almost certain that Woodward will also receive comparisons to Britney Spears. Listening to Woodward’s debut album, “While You Can,” scheduled for release on April 1, will prove that she is not like anyone else in today’s pop music scene.

“I listen to a lot of slow music now and growing up. When I got into Led Zeppelin, I realized the power of electric guitars and live drums. I really meshed them all together. I did a soul rock record and I don’t think there’s so much of it out there right now from girls. I come from more of a soulful kind of rock, funky place, and I love to just wale out and scat.”

But she’s not the “Anti-Britney” type, an image attached to Lavigne. In fact, Woodward says she has a lot of respect towards Spears.

“I really like Britney,” she says. “I think she’s an incredible performer and dancer. When you have a record deal that young, I think it’s hard to make your own decision sometimes and it’s a lot of pressure. I’m dealing with a lot of pressure right now and I’m older then her. I can’t even imagine being 14 or 15 and having a record deal. I love Britney, period.”

Woodward studied piano and flute at an early age, and took her first voice lessons at 14. Her father is a composer and conductor for the BBC, while her mother is an opera singer and teacher. She has also sung background on an album for Joey McIntyre, but didn’t ask the former New Kid on the Block for career advice.

“I realized then when you get into a situation where you’re someone else’s background vocalist, you don’t talk about your own stuff so much. It just gets weird. I don’t think he knew I wrote my own material. It wasn’t appropriate. I just focused on his music.”

She spent several months recording her album, which was produced by John Shanks and Kevin Kadish. Working with Shanks, who has also produced material for the Corrs, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Nicks, was on Woodward’s wish list.

“I met [Shanks] a couple years ago and I always knew I wanted him to do my record. He’s very musical and funny; we were laughing the entire album. There were times when we were hoarse from just laughing. There was such a good vibe going on and we really respected each other. We had just a great chemistry.”

Woodward wrote most of the album, and said she wouldn’t have it any other way. The hardest part of making the album was finding the right lyric for a song.

“Sometimes lyrics are really hard to write. Sometimes it might take 3 days, sometimes it might take an hour, or it could take a month. It just has to be right and I’ve worked really hard on this.”

Her first single, “Dumb Girls,” has been downloaded over 500,000 times on AOL Music. In the song about her getting dumped, she sings, “I thought I knew what was going on/But love was deceiving me/Now I’m just a dumb girl.”

“Sometimes you think you’re too smart to get dumped and you’ll never get dumped, and only dumb girls get dumped, but I got dumped, so I’m just a dumb girl just like the rest of them who got dumped,’ she says.

But she’s not going to become a dumb girl when it comes to her career. Woodward is not a fan of the “business” part of the music business.

“What you’re wearing, how much you’re revealing clothes-wise– who cares? It all comes down to good songs and good music in the end. But it’s such an image-based business right now. Maybe it’s just a wave, but it’s a lot of pressure to be really hot.”

Woodward also realizes the realities of the business, especially when it comes down to what is trendy. She says she does not like when record companies try to copy what is hot at the moment.

“Like when Britney came out, everyone wanted the new Britney of their own label,” she says. “And I think that’s disgusting. Everything is like in fad, in fashion. To get people’s attention these days is different than the way it was five years ago. People forget about the music. We’re in the age of video. People aren’t listening to the song sometimes and are just watching the videos. People’s attention spans are getting less and less.”

On the verge of becoming a star, Woodward is already looking ahead to the future.

“Making a record is so cool. I can’t wait to do my next one.”

Check out Lucy Woodward on the internet at her official site, lucywoodward.com. The site features an e-card, where you can hear some of her songs.






Related Stories: