Sydney, AU (SONY BMG Music Entertainment) - Pop megastar Christina Aguilera is gearing up to release her long-awaited new album in June according to Billboard.com. Christina worked with Gang Starr's principal DJ Premier on the album, which will see her look back to the sounds of the 20s, 30s and 40s with elements of soul, jazz and blues all thrown into the mix.

The new album from Ms Aguilera will be her first since 2002's massive 'Stripped', and promises to be a little different to her earlier work. Five of the songs on the record were produced by Premier, who worked on a track for Gang Starr that Christina was particularly fond of called 'Jazz Thing'.

"It had elements of Miles Davis and Billie Holiday and little horn pieces," Christina told Billboard of the song. "The way he combined that, I was like, 'Hm. I bet he would get where I'm trying to go with this record.' It was taking a chance. God knows if he would even do it because it was kind of his first time, I think, even venturing into the 'pop' world. I knew that it would be a different and new thing for him."
Christina says she opted to work with Premier to get a new take on her music, and avoid working with the same people who already dominate the charts.

"The thing that I try to do with each record, I don't necessarily go to the main people that are the No. 1 chart-toppers in music," she told Billboard. "I really like to go left field, think a little bit out of the box and go with someone, maybe a little bit more obscure, that I really respect. Not to say that Premier is that, but just to say that I'm not going to go to the obvious person, say, the Neptunes, Pharrell or Lil Jon. I really like to go someplace different that people haven't approached."
Watch this space for more updates on Christina Aguilera's new album hitting you soon!