Christina Aguilera has a very personal connection to the ’30s and ’40s blues and jazz that inspired her new double- disc album “Back to Basics,” she tells Senior Writer Lorraine Ali in the July 31 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, July 24).

“At a really early age I connected with old soul and blues,” she says. “My grandma used to take me to little record stores around Pittsburgh and buy me old records. I was 6, and I’d sing the songs at block parties. My grandma would get a kick out of hearing me do material that was far beyond my years.” She also explains, “They spoke to my life before I moved in with my grandma-my father, all the abuse I endured.” On one track, “Oh Mother,” Aguilera sings about that period directly: “On that song, I thank my mom for leaving him, for getting us out of that situation because it was life-threatening.” And Aguilera still avoids contact with her father. “He tries to send letters every once in a while, but I have amazing people around me now and I’m happy, so I don’t really long for that relationship. I just don’t see the need.”

The new sound of “Back to Basics” reflects changes in Aguilera’s public persona, she tells Newsweek. “The sexuality coming forward on this record is more softened,” she says. “It’s more pin-up, tongue-in-cheek. It’s playful. People take sex far too seriously.”

Still, says Aguilera, she has no regrets about the much sexier — and more controversial — image she donned for her last release, “Stripped.” “I was proud of myself for having the balls to do it,” she says. “And you know what I love about that record? Everybody had an opinion. If you liked it, you wanted to root for me — ‘Look, she’s empowered.’ If not, well, you’d stick all those labels on me.”

Aguilera also talks to Newsweek about her relationship with fellow ex- Mouseketeer Britney Spears. Disputing reports of a feud between her and Spears, she says, “We were like best friends, but the media saw a navel and blonde hair and had to create some drama.” Now, some in the industry say that this new album puts Aguilera well ahead of her peers-including Spears.

“Her competition is no longer Britney,” says writer and producer Linda Perry (Pink, Gwen Stefani), who did the second disc of Aguilera’s new record. “She’s on another level, one where she can compete with those great old voices from the past.”