Lavigne set to release new single

TORONTO — Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne is opening up about her battle with Lyme disease as she prepares to release new music for the first time in five years.

In a statement on her website, the Napanee, Ont.-raised singer-songwriter says she’ll put out the song Head Above Water on Sept. 19.

It’s the first single off her upcoming album, which she calls “a very strong, triumphant, powerful and true record,” that reflects her experiences over the last few years.

Lavigne says her battle with Lyme has been the worst period of her life as it took a physical and emotional toll.

She says she was able to turn that fight into music that she’s really proud of and that marks “a victorious moment.”

The 33-year-old says she wrote Head Above Water from her bed “during one of the scariest moments” of her life.

“I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down,” Lavigne said in the statement.

“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.”

Prayer and her mother helped her, she added.

Lavigne’s last studio album, her fifth, was 2013’s Here’s to Never Growing Up.

Lavigne said she wrote all of the songs for the new album in her bed and on the couch, and recorded there mostly as well.

She worked with musicians Travis Clark and Stephan Moccio on the first single.

“Truly ... by keeping my spirits up, having goals to reach and a purpose to live for, my music helped to heal me and keep me alive,” she said.