Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne's third studio album has been christened "The Best Dam Thing," and will be released in April via RCA.

The first single, "Girlfriend," will hit U.S. radio outlets in February. "I promise you guys will LOVE this record -- it is my favorite one," she said on her MySpace.com site (http://www.myspace.com/avrillavigne). "And I can't wait! It is really fast, fun, young, bratty, aggressive, confident (and) cocky in a playful way ... all the good stuff."

Lavigne said she was inspired to make a more up-tempo album after spending "so much of my time playing live shows. I wanted to make sure the songs were fun -- fun for the fans and myself. I will only have like three slow songs on the record."

"The Best Dam Thing" will be the follow-up to 2004's "Under My Skin," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard and has sold 2.9 million copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Lavigne also contributed the new song "Keep Holding On" to the RCA soundtrack for the dragon fantasy "Eragon," the current worldwide box office champ.

via news.yahoo.com