It’s officially Beyoncé season. After performing at the Presidential Inauguration and knocking her Super Bowl halftime show performance out of the park, the superstar singer is getting ready to drop her HBO documentary, Life Is But a Dream, and even better, her fifth solo album. And for the first time, Beyoncé talked in depth about the latter in her gorgeous Vogue cover story on newsstands now. 

Bey described the new record as a mix of previous albums 4 and I Am ... Sasha Fierce, but said it’s "a lot more sensual" and "empowering" than her earlier work, thanks to motherhood.

"Right now, after giving birth, I really understand the power of my body," she told Vogue. "I just feel my body means something completely different. I feel a lot more confident about it. Even being heavier, thinner, whatever. I feel a lot more like a woman, more feminine, more sensual. And no shame."

Beyoncé recorded the album in the Hamptons, New York, last summer, only a few months after Blue Ivy was born. Collaborators, who included Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, lived and ate with Bey and husband Jay-Z during recording. "We had dinners with the producers every day, like a family," she said. "It was like a camp — weekends off. You could go and jump in the pool and ride bikes ... the ocean and grass and sunshine. ... It was really a safe place."

Beyoncé gal pal Gwyneth Paltrow — wife of Jay-Z’s good friend Chris Martin of Coldplay —  chimed in to describe the family vibe of the recording process as well. "Blue was sleeping in her arms, across her body, and B was listening back to what she had been working on," she said. "I thought, 'This is how you do it. You do what you love with who you love included.'"

With a setting like that, best bet is that the album continues the personal, introspective approach hinted at in trailers for Life Is But a Dream. "This movie has healed me in so many ways," Beyoncé says. "It makes me want to cry."

Get ready for the BET Experience, featuring Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly,  Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar and many more. Go here for more details and info on how to buy tickets. 

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 (Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images)