AVRIL LAVIGNE: Head Above Water (BMG)

ONCE a tomboyish skater-girl, the Canadian singer, 34, leaves teenpop behind on a confessional return informed by her two-year battle with Lyme Disease and the end of her marriage to Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger. ‘My life is what I’m fighting for,’ she sings on a heartfelt title track. The unflinching Birdie is equally convincing. Light relief arrives on Goddess, which rhymes ‘he goes bananas’ with ‘sexy in my pyjamas’. Good to hear she can still have some fun. ★★★✩✩