TORONTO — Avril Lavigne says her fourth record is finally set for release after “bureaucratic BS” held it back for a year.
Writing on her MySpace blog, the 26-year-old pop-punker betrayed some agitation with her record company, which she felt made the process of crafting her new album even more difficult.
“I’m done with my 4th record!!! Well, actually I have been done for a year . . . . and now my record company have finally decided to release it,” she wrote in a post on Wednesday. “OMG . . . How nice! Thanks guys.”
“This has been a really difficult record for me to create and to release. 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.”
Lavigne wrote that she produced tracks for the new record alone for the first time. She says the album includes tracks she wrote solo and with friends.
“I have pushed myself and I feel proud,” she wrote.
The Napanee, Ont., native’s last record was 2007’s The Best Damn Thing. The Juno-nominated album featured the No. 1 hit Girlfriend and went platinum twice in Canada, while also selling well around the world.
But the intervening years have been tumultuous for Lavigne.
She announced her divorce from Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley last year. She also decided to make a management change, ditching Nettwerk — the Vancouver-based company credited with discovering her as a teenager — for an American manager.
And this fourth record has been troublesome, too. It was originally slated for release in fall, 2009. Later, Lavigne told reporters the record would see a June release.
Over the summer, she posted a picture of herself back in the studio with British producer Alex Da Kid to her Twitter page. Both were wearing medical masks, and Lavigne said she was suffering from strep throat but that it wouldn’t impede progress on her record.
“I have been dying to get back out on the road and do what I love the most... PLAY MUSIC,” she wrote Wednesday. “I know you guys have been waiting for a long time.....and so have I, but not by choice. I have been sitting with this record for a year now. ...
“From the beginning of my career my message has always been to be yourself and stand up for what you believe in. Follow your heart.”
She says the first single from the album is called “What the Hell.” She’s planning on shooting the video in two weeks, aiming at a January release date.
“This song is the least personal song to me off this album,” she wrote. “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 wrote that she’s also hard at work on her clothing line, Abbey Dawn, which she plans to take internationally for the first time. She’s also working on establishing the Avril Lavigne Foundation, a children and youth charity she launched earlier this year.
She also says she’s “focusing on (her) personal happiness and health.”
“Balance!” she wrote, ending the note.