Avril Lavigne Returns With an Angsty Piano Ballad

Avril Lavigne Returns With an Angsty Piano Ballad

By Katherine Gillespie
Sep 19, 2018

It's fall, which means lots of staring out the window at the rain while listening to moody music. And we've got just the song: Avril Lavigne's new single, "Head Above Water." The original teen angst queen has returned!

"Head Above Water," Avril's first single since 2015, is a heavy piano ballad about just that: trying to stay alive. After contracting Lyme disease, Lavigne has endured health issues in recent years that have prevented her from touring and recording.

In a letter to fans posted on her website, she described the painful journey that led to writing the new song:

"Thank you for waiting so patiently as I fought through and still continue to fight, the battle of my lifetime. The first song I am choosing to release is called 'Head Above Water.' It is also the first song I wrote from my bed during one of the scariest moments of my life. I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down. I felt like I was drowning. Like I was going under water and I just needed to come up for air. Like I was in a river being pulled in a current. Unable to breathe."

Listen to "Head Above Water" and watch its appropriately emo lyric video, below.

Photo courtesy Avril Lavigne