Motherhood changed my approach to music: Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera believes that her approach to music has become lighter after becoming a mother.

The singer has a son, Max, who is almost two years old.

"I had a really hard time being light before. I'd get a little weird about it being too cliché. My first record was very clichéd pop - what everyone else wanted. [My second album Stripped] was inspired by a lot of pain," the Mirror quoted her as telling next month's issue of Marie Claire.

She added: "[My third, Back to Basics,] still had some sort of relation to my past.  [My new album] is just about the future - my son in my life, motivating me to want to play and have fun.

"In this crazy business, it's so easy to build up a lot of walls and a lot of bitterness. And it's just no way to be...

"[I can now use softer tones] that maybe I've been afraid to do in the past, to allow myself to go to a place of 'less singing.' I'm more vulnerable and more strong at the same time."