• Farsi Translation

On September 6th, Avril Lavigne dropped a letter to her fans on her website:

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. Praying to God for Him to help me just keep my head above the water. To help me see through the stormy weather. I grew closer to Him. My mother held me. In her arms, I wrote the first song that I am releasing to tell my story. I later met a beautiful soul, Travis Clark, and we sat down at the piano and sculpted the rest of the song. Then I took it to the genius, Stephan Moccio and love what he did to the music."

One night, I thought I was dying, and I had accepted that I was going to die. My mum laid with me in bed and held me. I felt like I was drowning.

Under my breath, I prayed, ‘God, please help to keep my head above the water.’ In that moment, the songwriting of this album began, it was like I tapped into something. It was a very spiritual experience. Lyrics flooded through me from that point on.

—Avril in a statement to People magazine.