In July, Christina Aguilera teamed with SweeTARTS to invite fans to create original beats using the candy's online "music mixer." The winner, hand-picked by Christina, got one-on-one advice from the singer as he turned his beat into a finished track in a real recording studio. Christina says being able to mentor unknown talent put "a big smile" on her face.
"I love being able to be in that position and do that for people, and I'm so happy that I did do it, because I got to have our session with Augusta Sani, the winner of the contest. And he was only 15 and he'd never had recording studio experience or never tried anything like this before," Christina tells ABC Audio.
"It was so cute, we had to schedule our call...around his school schedule and his family dinners," she laughs. "So it was sweet and cool for me to have that experience with someone so young...it was definitely great. I walked away with a big smile on my face."
Another thing making Christina happy these days is her new music: She's been working on a Spanish-language album project and says some of it will "be released very, very soon" -- not just this fall, but beyond that.
"There was so much material that we're going to be releasing it throughout next year, in sort of six-song increments every few months," she explains.
"I'm really excited about releasing this music in a different way," adds Christina, saying the new songs and videos tell "whole story and take you on this incredible journey...[it's] my labor of love for a part of me and a part of my culture that's so important, that isn't always brought out in my English music."