COMPLICATED singer Avril Lavigne has hit out at critics who have disparaged her new glamorous look, insisting it's all part of her growing up. The Canadian-born singer burst onto the music scene when she was 17 years old, and made a name for herself with her tomboy looks and edgy attitude. She explains, "I used to come across as really tough, because that's who I was. "When I was in high school I was a little s**t, hanging out with the guys, getting drunk, smoking, getting in fights, playing hockey. "My band were all guys, so I was only around guys, but when I got older I started being more of a chick." The 21-year-old appeared on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in February (06), trading in her cargo pants for a floor-sweeping Giorgio Armani dress and champagne-blonde highlights, causing some critics to label her a "sell-out." Lavigne hits back saying, "It's annoying. I dyed my hair a year and a half ago. But now everyone's like, 'Oh, she has this new look!' It wasn't overnight at all. "I broke out on the scene looking like the 17-year-old that I was. And from then to now I look really different - but that's called growing up."