Christina Aguilera‘s arc on Nashville kicks off Wednesday, but don’t expect her to be making the jump to country music anytime soon.

“I think my roots will stay where they are,” she tells PEOPLE, “but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more collaborations down the line.”

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In the same vein, this won’t be the last time we see Aguilera, 34, on the small screen. “My experiences in acting have been really great, so if the role is right I am always open to it,” she says, adding that her “true love will always stay music.”

Aguilera is set to portray Jade St. John, a successful pop singer whose dream is to sing country music. As the “Beautiful” singer tells it, Jade “is caught between her love and her passion and what the record label wants of her as an artist.”

No stranger to changing up her look, Aguilera went brunette – and pink! – to portray Jade, who, like Aguilera, also “play[s] around” with a number of “colorful looks” when she hits the stage.

Though she has a regular entry into the country world thanks to her fellow Voice judge Blake Shelton, Aguilera says that jumping into that world in earnest taught her what we already knew: “There are really no nicer people than in country,” she shares. “The show couldn’t have been more welcoming and great to work with. On my last day of shooting, they even gave me a cake. It was such a great experience for my family.”

In honor of her entry into this brave new world, Aguilera will be performing a duet at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday. Her partner remains a mystery, but Aguilera was able to spill a few details about the performance.

Set to perform two songs at the ACMs, Aguilera reveals that one of them – “Shotgun” – will be featured on her second episode of Nashville, airing April 22. “I really love the song. It speaks to long-lasting love, the roads it takes, the turns it makes and how it lasts forever. When I perform it, I really think of that older couple who have been through it all and who have stood the test of time with the changes that their relationship goes through.”

While the song will be performed as a duet on Sunday, “Shotgun” will be sung solo by Aguilera’s Jade on Nashville, which airs Wednesdays (10 p.m. ET) on ABC.

• Reporting by JENNIFER GARCIA

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