Avril Lavigne prepared to release fourth album after label quarreling

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne has been sitting on a new album for a year, and is now comfortable telling the world about it.

In a post on her website, the Canadian singer/songwriter says that her record company Arista/Sony has “finally decided to release” the as-yet-untitled effort.

“Not only is this the most meaningful and special record I have written, it is sincere, honest and close to my heart. But for the first time I experienced a bunch of bureaucratic BS. People do their best work when they are doing what they want, love and is natural for them, not when you are forcing them to be something that they are not.”

The tone of “forcing” a point of view seems to creep into her comment about the first single, “What the Hell,” out in January. “This song is the least personal song to me off this album. It’s a fun and funny anthem. It has a broad message about personal freedom.  It is the most pop track on the record.”

Lavigne says in the meantime, she’s been focused on her fashion line Abbey Dawn and establishing the Avril Lavigne Foundation, which supports children and youth living with disabilities and serious illnesses. The organization has been around for about eight months.

No word yet when the completed album will drop, though Lavigne mentions the video for “What the Hell” will lens in two weeks.

Lavigne has largely dropped from the limelight after 2007’s “The Best Damn Thing.” She had a somewhat public divorce from former husband Deryck Whibley (from Sum 41), contributed a track to Tim Burton’s redux of “Alice in Wonderland” and launched a perfume line. She recently posed for Maxim magazine for the third time.
 

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.