It isn’t often that I hear the words “Avril Lavigne” and “haunting” in the same sentence and it actually be a positive comment on her work. But, the compliment is really there and with good reason, as the contribution to the Alice In Wonderland soundtrack for Burton’s much-anticipated movie by Avril is just that, hauntingly beautiful. Instead of going with her Sk8r Boi roots and doing something punk rock and flashy, Avril tried for something much more gothic and ethereal than we’ve seen in the past. And it worked. Her video of “Alice” has been touted as a gothic fall into the rabbit hole that perfectly compliments Burton’s movie, and the music shows a truly desired contribution to the movie’s soundtrack.

The actual video was shot back in January and only took two days to film. At the Arborteum in Los Angeles, Avril and her director spent their two days in rainstorms talking in detail about ideas both of them had for the music video. Avril had ideas floating around and the director had a plan but wanted her input to create the video until they had the right kind of product. And while you know that Burton wasn’t actually there to be involved with the concept of the video, those who have seen the video have stated outright that it seems to be directly from Burton himself, as if in music form. With its very haunting and gothic tunes, Avril’s song and the video to go with it have really stunned critics everywhere and music fans.

And here’s the funniest part. Tim Burton has been so secretive about the video that no one has been allowed to see it until recently, which meant that the two artists had not seen the movie to even come up with their plans. It turns out, though, that after the fact, the director of the music video Dave Meyers was given a chance to see the film and said that it was incredibly exciting to see. The video fit the movie even more after that and even Burton was able to give his seal of approval on the video. So it looks like a job well done from the unexpected source of Avril.