TORONTO -- Avril Lavigne is ready to get under the world's collective skin again.

In an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview with The Sun last night, the 19-year-old native of Napanee, Ont., said the May 25 release of her sophomore album, Under My Skin, means her life is pretty much planned for the next two years.

But she's up for the gypsy life again.

"The whole time I was making the record, I just like really wanted to get back out on the road and play the new songs," said Lavigne, whose long, blond locks had dark low-lights in them from a Cosmo Girl photo shoot earlier in the day.

"So it's exciting. I feel refreshed."

First up for Lavigne, in terms of a public Toronto appearances, is a six-song acoustic performance with her guitarist Evan Taubenfeld today at Fairview Mall, starting at 4:30 p.m.

The mini-concert is part of a 21-date North American mall tour that began on March 4 in Minneapolis and wraps up April 15 in Dallas. So far, she's been drawing crowds numbering between three and nine thousand .

"It's been really cool to see how people react to the new songs and it's going good so far," Lavigne said, relaxing on a black leather couch in the reception area of a Queen St. W. photo studio."There's usually seven thousand kids that show up. It's been really great because I've been away for a while. And it's good to know that they're still there."

Lavigne, who also performs a private concert for CHUM-FM radio listeners tonight at the CHUM TV building, has additionally scheduled a return to Toronto later this month for a Live@Much special at MuchMusic on March 28. Her actual world tour is not expected to begin until the fall with the first dates in the U.K.

Under My Skin follows Lavigne's 2002 monster breakthrough debut, Let Go, which sold a whopping 14 million copies worldwide. But she claimes to have felt no pressure during the writing and recording of the new album.

"I'm not thinking about record sales or anything, whatever," said Lavigne, who changed out of her photo shoot attire into a grey hooded sweatshirt and jeans for this chat. "I'm just going to write music that makes me happy. And I'm happy with the record that I wrote. And whether or not it sells million of copies, that's okay because I'm happy with it."

Lavigne took about a seven-month break between touring for the first album and starting work on the next one, spending most of her time in Los Angeles.

The initial draw to the West Coast, where she eventually wants to live, was another Canadian female artist -- singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, who also lives part of the time in Malibu with her husband Raine Maida, the frontman for Toronto rockers Our Lady Peace.

The two singers originally met at a party in Toronto after Kreviazuk came over and gave Lavigne her number. They went out for lunch the very next day.

"I asked her if she wanted to write with me," Lavigne said. "She's a great writer and I thought it'd been interesting and it worked out really well. And so we did and then we just became like really good friends. I lived with her for like months. She's like a mom. She's like a best friend. She's like a sister. And a business partner."

Other new collaborators included producer Doug Gilmore (Linkin Park, Pearl Jam) and ex-Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody, the latter with whom Lavigne even visited a tattoo parlour with.

Lavigne described Under My Skin, which still has to be mastered later this month, as heavier in both sound and content than Let Go.

"I think it's deeper. It's darker. It's more mature. And kind of serious," the singer said. "I have a song (Slipped Away) about my Grandpa, who passed away and that was really hard for me to deal with. But it was good 'cause I was able to write about it. Chantal, we co-wrote that song together. I remember one night we just rented a hotel room and like grabbed our guitars here in Toronto and just like went in there and then we were talking about people we've lost and stuff so I just really wanted to write a song about my Grandpa."