Jordin Sparks on Her 'Resurgence' with New Album — and How Husband Dana 'Loved Me Back to Life' (Exclusive)

'No Restrictions' is out now

• Jordin Sparks released her first album since 2015 titled No Restrictions

• Sparks opens up about stepping into her power and feeling confident in the woman she is today

• The "No Air" singer details how her husband Dana Isaiah and 6-year-old son DJ have changed her life for the better
  

It's been nearly a decade since Jordin Sparks released Right Here, Right Now. Now, the American Idol winner is back with another full-length album and it represents the woman she is today — with No Restrictions.

On Friday, Sept. 13, Sparks released No Restrictions, a 15-track album she began working on during the COVID-19 lockdown. For the first time in a long time, she felt the freedom to create without outside distractions getting in the way of her creativity.

"It really does feel like a resurgence to have this new music coming, but I feel like these songs really speak to where I am in my life right now, as well as represent the musicality that I am as an artist," the "No Air" singer, 34, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

This has been freeing for Sparks — and in recent years she's managed to step into her "power."

"As a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a friend, as an artist, as a songwriter, as a woman, as a human, I really feel like I'm very zoned in on who I am. I know who I am," Sparks, who shares 6-year-old son DJ with husband Dana Isaiah, says. "Nothing is going to shake that, but I also know what I'm doing here and where I'm going."

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She adds, "I'm really grateful that my passion and my purpose are the same thing. They both align, and I know I'm supposed to be singing and using my voice to bring joy to people and to heal people and to make people feel something."

Sparks, who won American Idol at age 17 in 2007, knows that she's someone who plays "the long game" and has been on a journey of learning what works for her and what she's had to cut loose.

"I'm especially very particular and choosy about my time and my creativity. I want to make sure I'm working with people who have the same spirit as I do," she says of the album, which includes features with T-Pain, Stonebwoy and Shawn Stockman.

"Everybody met me on Idol when I was singing something different every single week. So I really wanted to show, 'Hey, I know you met me here, but let me show you what I can do on this record.' So there's a lot of different influences, a lot of different cross genres, but it's all really cohesive into one great experience."

Since Sparks dropped Right Here, Right Now in 2015, the singer and actress — who's hosting the upcoming Magnolia show Roller Jam, premiering Oct. 10 — has gone through so much personal growth and change. She started working on the album in 2012, right around the time she made her acting debut in the musical film Sparkle.

"On the personal side, which if you're following me, everybody saw it happen, I had two major breakups during that time," she recalls. "I was going through a lot. I started going through therapy. I cut a lot of things out of my life, and I really started focusing on me for the first time."

And just as she decided she was going to leave Hollywood and move to Nashville to start fresh, she met Dana in 2017.

"I literally had a storage pod packed. My house was up for sale. I was really about to go. I met him for the first time, and he was like, 'Why are you running?' In my head I'm like, 'You don't know me well enough to be asking me this question. But whoa, he was right. I was definitely running because I had just dealt with so much and I was tired."

"He really loved me back to life. He encouraged me and was like, 'No, we need your voice,'" she continues. "He really helped me flip the script on myself again, and remember who I am."

Related: Jordin Sparks' New Music Has Her 'Stepping into Her Power' (Exclusive)

Another major change was the birth of her son DJ in 2018, who she says "completely changed my life." Now, Sparks' mindset is "gratitude is the attitude always" — and she's especially grateful for her foundation at home.

"The last decade of my life has really been relearning who I am now in this space. And girl, people can say whatever they want to say, you know what I mean? I know who I am. And if all of this fell away and I was just home with DJ and Dana, I would be fine."

"I'm really, really grateful to be in the space I'm in. I'm so content," she continues. "I love my life. I'm just so grateful that I get to do what I do, and I'm really grateful that people still care and want to hear my music and want to know what I'm doing."

Up next, the "Battlefield" singer says she's going to keep her fans "fed."

"There's going to be a buffet of things. There's other collaborations I've done on other albums and the holiday season is coming up, so your girl always has to give some Christmas gifts. Hopefully more touring [and] I'm really excited," she says.

No Restrictions is out now.

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