Christina Aguilera On How Her Kids Influenced Her New Music

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Pie L
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Christina Aguilera. Photo by Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock (9229097be)

In an intimate interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 on Apple Music Thursday, Christina Aguilera discussed her new music and how her children influence her sound, ET reports.

“Whenever I was in that mode of creating Stripped, I was like, ‘God, I have to get back to a place where I’m making music that I fully believe in and get the duct tape off my mouth.’ It was a lot,” Aguilera said after Lowe called the pop diva’s new music a “wiser version” of the 2002 album. “It was a time in music, too, [where it] was extremely pop-driven and very puppeteering with what was behind-the-scenes, and what the label felt would sell in a package deal. And once again I found myself in a place where [I think], ‘God, all these rules.’ I’m just not living up to my full potential.”

Aguilera’s seventh studio album, Liberation, will be out on June 15. Her fans have already listened to “Accelerate,” “Twice,” and “Fall in Line,” her duet with Demi Lovato. She released her latest single, “Like I do,” featuring GoldLink, on Friday.

“These songs so make sense and are so relevant now,” the 37-year-old singer explained. “I was doing it back then and I’m glad that I stuck to my guns. I really truly just came out with things that I believed in, even if it was against the grain, and even if people were like, ‘Really, you shouldn’t be saying that. It’s going to start up too much controversy.'”

The Grammy winner is no stranger when it comes to controversy. From her sexy ensembles to her “Dirrty” music video, she owns up to everything she’s done in her music career. Now, as a mother of two adorable kids, 10-year -old son Max and 3-year-old daughter Summer, she’s more careful of what she puts out.

“There are definitely two different hats that I wear, for sure,” she shared. “My kids at home don’t see the one on stage. I’m very not showy, even when I’m trying to do my vocal rehearsal. I was practicing for the Whitney [Houston] tribute [for the 2017 American Music Awards in December] and my daughter was watching Peppa Pig and she was like, ‘Be quiet,’ and shuts the door. I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ It definitely is an eye-awakening moment. But, you know, it all changes into the artist you are and the person you are and you have to absorb that.”

“I think about the one day my daughter and my son see ‘Dirrty’ and what are they going to think and all this. But I always come from a message and a place and, as a woman, being empowered by your body,” she added. “What’s right for me might not be right for her, or might not be right for the next woman. But it is the way that I feel empowered in my own body and showing my own strength, and that’s how I needed to be when I was 21. And I hope that she can be a smart, independent woman as well, and my son too, respecting women.”

Recently, Aguilera and Lovato performed their emotional track together at the Billboard Music Awards.

“She’s just such a sweetheart and a real girls’ girl. I love that,” Aguilera gushed. “it was important to me that I had somebody that could really blow. I wanted somebody that could come to play.”

“She put so much heart and passion into it and that’s all I could ever ask for,” the “Beautiful” singer said. “I teared up when I first heard her vocal on it and I sent her flowers and I was just like, ‘Oh my god. You took it to the next level. I’m just so happy.’ That’s what I love — the unity of it and the fact that we’re just coming from such an empowered place just as women — two strong women — that have come from struggle and are able to share that in such a positive way.”