While some artists sweat over their spot on MuchMusic's Top 30, 19-year-old Fefe Dobson only gets worked up over what really matters.

"I'm still a teenager. I deal with social problems and stuff," the Scarborough, Ont., native says on the phone before a gig in Vancouver. "I try not to see where my videos rate and what numbers they're at. I just try to focus on day-to-day things."

These days, Dobson hardly needs to worry. You may have seen her gracing the covers of U.S. teen magazines, on tour with Justin Timberlake or taking over the stage at this year's MuchMusic Video Awards. It's pretty hard to miss this girl.

Dobson has quickly made her way to the top, and she's loving it.

"It's been nice," she says. "I love it. I get to spread my music to people. That is the No. 1 thing for me."

With her hardy image and tomboyish style, Dobson is often compared to fellow Canadian songstresses like Nelly Furtado and Avril Lavigne, a pal since they met in October at the Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas. But she doesn't mind.

"It doesn't really bug me to a big degree. I love her, she's my friend, but I don't think I'm like her," Dobson says of Lavigne. "What she does is great and I love her for that. There's no point in having more than one Avril in the industry."

One thing they share is songwriting chops. Dobson co-wrote her 2003 self-titled debut, which delivers 13 pop-rock tunes laced with that bit of edge that sets her apart from today's pop princesses. The disc delivered three radio-friendly hits -- Take Me Away, Everything and Bye Bye Boyfriend -- and incorporates punk, rock and pop. The content is also free of fluff, with upbeat love songs placed among more emotional ballads like Unforgiven (in which Dobson confronts her father who left her) and Give it Up (about the pressure guys put on girls to surrender their virginity).

Dobson recently finished shooting the video for her fourth single, Don't Go (Girls and Boys) and although she can't wait until it hits the tube, she's more anxious to move on to the next project.

"I'm excited to get back into the studio. I have so many ideas and so many things I want to express."

At 16, Dobson almost hit the pop scene when she considered signing with Zomba Records -- the label of Britney, Backstreet and Justin -- but felt she needed to spend more time honing her musical craft first.

"My voice I don't think had found its direction yet," she says.

So she took two years to develop her vocal and guitar skills before signing with Island Records and enlisting producer Jay Levine.

"I would not have wanted to be signed at a younger age," she says. "I've grown since I was 16 and I never regret anything because I'm glad that I took this route."

Dobson thanks musical heroes like Kurt Cobain, David Bowie and Cindi Lauper for inspiring her to absorb a variety of sounds and integrate them into a style she can call her own.

"I've always been a chameleon in a sense. I think you soak everything up like a sponge."

Dobson rocks the West End tomorrow. Tickets are $18 at Ticketmaster.