Lavigne collaborated with numerous producers including Martin Johnson, Peter Svensson, David Hodges, Matt Squire, and Chad Kroeger.

While this proved to be her fifth consecutive top-five album on the chart, it also tallied the lowest first-week sales of Lavigne's career.

Worldwide, the album impacted moderately on the charts, reaching the top-ten in over twelve countries, while peaking at number one in China and Taiwan.

The second, "Rock n Roll", had less impact, while the third, "Let Me Go", performed well internationally, reaching the top 20 in Czech Republic, South Korea, and Canada.

Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne announced that work on her fifth studio album had already begun, with eight songs written so far.

[7] In August 2012, it was reported that Lavigne had completed work on the album, stating on her Twitter, "That's a wrap boyz @hodgesmusic and chad @Nickelback !!!

"[8] In September 2012, Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid told Billboard that Lavigne "just completed" the album and that she enlisted her then-fiancée Chad Kroeger for a song.

[12] The cover features a closeup of her face against an all-black background, with her eyes ringed in smeared eyeliner, while her hair is pulled back tight on her head.

"[14] In an interview at the radio station WRVE, Lavigne confirmed that the album would be available to pre-order on September 24, 2013, and would be released later on November 5, 2013.

"[19] Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson also worked with Lavigne on the album, co-producing five songs, including the lead-single "Here's to Never Growing Up".

[20] In a Billboard interview, Lavigne revealed that she worked with Marilyn Manson on a track called "Bad Girl".

In an interview for Nylon, Lavigne stated that the album was "more artistic" than her previous efforts, explaining, "This time it's not just all songs about relationships and dudes.

[27] The third track "17" was considered a "fizzy, buzzing look back on adolescence,"[28] over a "steady" beat, "long acoustic" strums and "yelping" vocals that refract the mischievous glow of youth.

[29] The fourth track, "Bitchin' Summer", is a mid-tempo song where she and the object of her affection are like "high school lovebirds" and she's picking him up at the liquor store.

[30] "Hello Kitty" sees Lavigne flirting with electronic music[33] and techno pop,[29] while also featuring a dubstep breakdown.

[34] The breakup track "Hello Heartache" has a background vocal hook crawling "la-la-la"[29] and a skittering backbeat, which amplify Lavigne's pain.

The song's guardedly celebrates new love[34] with "hushed" rock elements and "crystallized" melody, which was described by Jason Lipshutz of Billboard as "at home on a Taylor Swift album".

First, she went to Los Angeles' famed Sunset Strip club, "the Viper Room", performing a range of tracks, including "17".

[37] On November 5, 2013, during the album's release day in the United States, Lavigne performed "Let Me Go" and snippets of "Girlfriend" and "Sk8er Boi".

[41] On April 9, 2013, the album's lead single, "Here's to Never Growing Up", produced by Martin Johnson of the band Boys Like Girls, was released.

[50] Worldwide, "Let Me Go" was more successful than "Rock n Roll", reaching a peak of number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and the top-forty in Austria.

[55] Its depiction of Japanese culture was met with widespread criticism, which has included suggestions of racism, with Lavigne denying it.

[59] The only promotional single "How You Remind Me" was released in Japan on December 11, 2012, as a digital download on the One Piece Film: Z soundtrack.

"[68] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard praised the album for "encapsulat[ing] everything worth loving about the 29-year-old's long-running artistry," highlighting that "unlike 2011's Goodbye Lullaby, which featured moments in which Lavigne sounded unsure of herself, the singer is fully in control here.

"[29] Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly was also positive, praising Lavigne for "revealing her grown-woman wisdom," noticing that the album "reminds us that maturity sometimes means doubling down on what's expected of you.

It's fun, easily digestible pop for the masses, featuring the soaring choruses and melodies that made us fall in love with her over the past ten years.

It's brimming with character, jagged with contradictions, deeply nostalgic, occasionally annoying, likably bratty and mostly great.

"[28] Laurence Green of musicOMH praised the album, writing that "the eponymous effort goes a long way to restore the singer to her rightful place as purveyor of some of the most carefree, feelgood pop around.

"[70] In a more negative review, Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone found that the album features "soggy ballads, sometimes vaguely goth or R&B, and tries in vain to keep up with Taylor Swift," but praised "Hello Kitty" for feeling "truly playful.

"[31] Kyle Fowle of Slant Magazine also found the exploration of life-affirming mantras and boasts of rebelliousness "forced, as if she's trying to capture an attitude, and craft a persona, that she no longer lives.