Avril Lavigne set to release new album in March

(All rights reserved)

Pop-punk chanteuse Avril Lavigne announced via her website on December 7 her plans to release her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, on March 8.

A long-awaited follow-up to 2007's The Best Damn Thing, the album has been in the works for two years and features collaborations with producers Butch Walker and Max Martin, who has worked with Katy Perry, Pink, and Britney Spears. The album will also include collaborations with her former guitarist Evan Taubenfeld and ex-husband, rock singer Deryck Whibley of Canadian rock band Sum 41.

Lavigne plans to debut the album's first single, "What the Hell," on the US television broadcast Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on December 31. On her website, she described the song as "an unabashed embrace of fun and freedom." Other tracks slated for inclusion on the album are "Smile," "Wish You Were Here," "Push," Stop Standing There," and "Goodbye."

On November 11, the singer posted a letter to her fans on her website venting frustrations about the album's delay. "I'm done with my 4th record!!!" she wrote. "Well, actually, I have been done for a year ... and now my record company have finally decided to release it. OMG ... How nice!"

"Not only is this the most meaningful and special record I have written," she added, "it is sincere, honest and close to my heart. But for the first time, I experienced a bunch of bureaucratic BS."

Other projects for Lavigne recently include penning the lead single "Alice" to the soundtrack to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and appearing as a guest judge on the US hit show "American Idol" in early 2010. The star is claimed to have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and she has earned eight Grammy Award nominations and pocketed seven Canadian Juno Awards. Her last album, The Best Damn Thing, reached number one in 12 countries.

http://www.avrillavigne.com/