Kai Z. Feng

The pop star with the powerful pipes has dealt with it all—from loathsome music execs to criticism of her looks and love life. In this raw, personal, and vulnerable cover interview for Cosmopolitan's October issue, she finally sets her demons free.

On going totally natural on the cover of her new album Liberation:

“I still love getting glammed up, but I want to show imperfections on this go-round. It’s scary, but I’m up for the challenge. You can’t tell me something I haven’t already heard about myself anyway.”

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On her upcoming tour, The Liberation Tour:

“With this record, I'm stripping back a lot and just trying to find myself again—just the true love and the art in the process, and not just going for some formulaic sort of force-fed direction that we can get caught up in. So I want to flip it on its ear and I want to do something completely unexpected from a pop-formatted show—a fresh perspective that I've never done this of a tour before—super creative, super interesting.”

On the flack she received for her Stripped makeover:

“It’s hard to hear yourself being called names. I remember being hurt by these commercials on MTV, pitting Britney as the good girl and me as the bad girl. It’s like, if I’m going to be demure and innocent, that’s okay. But if I’m going to just be myself, I’m trouble.”

Kai Z. Feng

On women owning their bodies and being themselves:

“I love the female body, and I think it’s something to be proud of, not something that men should dictate ownership of. ‘Dirrty’ was extremely controversial at the time, but it would be nothing now. I hope I paved the way and helped set the ground rules that women can be any version of themselves they wanna be…and proud of it.”

On avoiding pairing up with another celebrity:

“I’ve had opportunities, but it isn’t my style to date another person in the business. There’s gotta be something wrong with you if you want to be in this business. I mean, hi! I definitely have my issues. I think that I can only handle one [celebrity] in the rela­tionship, and I need to be it.”

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Photographer: Kai Z. Feng



Fashion Editor: Aya Kanai

ON THE COVER: Jacket by Camilla and Marc; pants by Escada; necklace, bracelet, and rings by Bulgari. ON THE INSIDE IMAGE: Coat by Norma Kamali; heels by Brian Atwood.

For more Christina, pick up the October 2018 issue on newsstands September 4, or click here to subscribe to the digital edition.

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