Christina Aguilera put 'blood, sweat and tears' into album

Christina Aguilera's seventh album, 'Lotus', was made with ''blood, sweat and tears'' and she hopes it will inspire a younger generation.

Christina Aguilera's 'Lotus' was made with ''blood, sweat and tears''.

The singer spent a great deal of time making her seventh album, and after the relative commercial failure of her last record, 2010's 'Bionic', felt she had something to prove.

She told MTV: ''As in every record, it's my heart. It's a labour of love. It's not just songs to me; these are blood, sweat and tears and stuff from the heart.''

The 31-year-old singer also hopes the album sounds futuristic enough connect with the stars of tomorrow.

She added: ''You'll hear on this record that I've written songs for the next generation to hopefully inspire new singers of raw talent and realness. I definitely wanted to have fun and make 'Lotus' about freedom.''

Christina added one of the tracks she has previewed from the album, 'Army of Me', is a sequel to her 2003 empowerment anthem, 'Fighter'.

She said: ''This song is a really fun uptempo, and I wanted to do sort of a 'Fighter 2.0' inspirational uptempo for the younger generation, because I felt they should have it.

''All these six-year-olds who weren't around for the actual 'Fighter,' this is my chance to recharge it, rejuvenate it and do something modernised for them.''

'Lotus' is released next week.