Avril Lavigne to release new album in March

Avril Lavigne has finally set a date for her long-awaited fourth album.

New York: Nearly four years after the release of "The Best Damn Thing," Avril Lavigne has finally set a date for her long-awaited fourth studio album.The Canadian pop star will drop her new set, entitled "Goodbye Lullaby," March 8 on RCA Records. She will premiere its first single, "What the Hell," during a performance on "Dick Clark`s New Year`s Rockin` Eve" on December 31.

"Goodbye Lullaby" features collaborations with Butch Walker and Max Martin, according to a press release, as well as contributions from Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, whom Lavigne divorced in 2009 after three years of marriage. Lavigne told Billboard last February that the album, which will include tracks like "Stop Standing There," "Push" and "Goodbye," would feature a "somewhat more raw" sound than her previous output. In a letter to fans last month, Lavigne sounded off about the delayed release of "Goodbye Lullaby," which has reportedly been finished for over a year. "This has been a really difficult record for me to create and to release," she wrote. "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 was last heard on "Alice," the lead single to the soundtrack to Tim Burton`s "Alice in Wonderland," which was released last March. "The Best Damn Thing," which spawned Hot 100 chart-topper "Girlfriend" upon its 2007 release, has sold 1.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Bureau Report