Women in pop often get shoehorned into a cliched category.

Either you're a pop tart going to ever more desperate lengths in your videos (Britney, Christina, Girls Aloud), an R&B diva (J-Lo, Beyonc) or an indie chick that never quite matches the ferocity of boy-rock (Shirley Manson, Charlotte Hatherley).

But Avril doesn't want to play that game. Her peers are Green Day, Sum 41 and Blink 182 and her hero is Alanis Morisette.

"I'm not dissing them or anything, but people like Britney Spears and Beyonc have wardrobe people," she says. "I have a suitcase. I'm a bit lower maintenance."

The list of charges against Avril are as follows: 1. She's a pop singer masquerading as a punk rock singer. 2. Her lyrics are juvenile trash. 3. She acts like a sulky teenager in interviews. 4. She disses Britney for using her body to sell records, then does a shoot for Maxim magazine.

Given the weight of anger some people have against the 20-year-old Canadian, it's a wonder she even gets out of bed in the morning, let alone sells 15 million albums.

Sure, Avril does say stupid things and her outfits do look like she's trying too hard to be a bona fide sk8ter girl. But that's what teenagers do. The real question about Avril Lavigne is not whether she's a jumble of contradictions - it's why does the press feel the need to persecute her for growing up on record?

"You do a lot more growing between the ages of 16 and 19 than you do from 27 to 30," she says. "Sometimes I'm immature, but most of the time I've got a handle on things."

On her second album Under My Skin, Avril's done her best to silence the critics.

She's ditched pop writing team The Matrix and co-written the album with Canadian songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and former Evanescence member Ben Moody. It was a move that many thought commercial suicide, but although first single Don't Tell Me is no Complicated, Avril is far from washed-up.

This time around, her lyrics are more keenly observed, the power ballads gentler and the punk rock numbers louder and shoutier. Maybe those pesky critics have fueled her fire.

"I think I've really come along in my songwriting," Avril says. "I really believe in myself, and I've made a record that really comes from inside, from my feelings.

"I've had time to grow and become a better writer, a better guitar player, and I've learned more about studio work."

It's not just her songs that have matured. Avril has ditched the ties for corsets and got her first tattoo - a star inside her left wrist. Even the criticism is beginning to lose its sting. So who annoys the hell out of her now?

"Guys," she says. "They just don't get things you're trying to hint at them. I don't know.

"Girls know what I'm talking about when I say guys don't get things. They need to grow up."

Starts 7pm, tickets cost £22.50, call 0870 900 9100