VANCOUVER — Days after being threatened with legal action by pop star Avril Lavigne, singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk is apologizing for suggesting the chart-topper stole her song.

Kreviazuk said Tuesday she never intended to call Lavigne's songwriting ability or ethics into question when she spoke with Performing Songwriter Magazine last month.

The Winnipeg songwriter retracted quotes that implied she wrote a song called "Contagious'' on Lavigne's latest disc but was never credited.

"When I saw the track listing to Avril's new record, it caught my attention that she had the same title as a song I had sent her a while back,'' Kreviazuk says in a statement issued by her and Lavigne's record label, Nettwerk Music Group.

"When I heard it, I immediately realized it was a coincidence. The songs have nothing in common. ... My statements and any inference from my statements, which call into question Avril's ethics or ability as a respected and acclaimed songwriter, should be disregarded and are retracted.''

Nettwerk spokesman Rich Adams said Kreviazuk had never even heard the track until management played her the song.

Last week, Lavigne said she was considering taking legal action over the comments, insisting that she wrote the track with songwriter Evan Taubenfeld.

The allegations came as Lavigne was targeted in a copyright suit by U.S. pop group the Rubinoos, who allege that her song "Girlfriend'' sounds suspiciously like their '70s single "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.''

Lavigne's manager, CEO chief Terry McBride, has said there are no similarities between those tracks, either.

The swipes at Lavigne's songs continued Tuesday with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton pointing out similarities in the opening of her song "I Don't Have to Try'' with Peaches' song "I'm the Kinda.''

Adams said the claim was not even worth a response to Hilton, a longtime critic of Lavigne.