It’s been 12 years since Chaka Khan released a studio album, but “I wasn’t sitting, twiddling my thumbs,” the singer known as the Queen of Funk said recently. She was touring and stealthily recording two albums. The first, “Hello Happiness,” out this month, is full of upbeat, powerful tracks that wouldn’t be out of place on a “Soul Train” line. For this record, Khan teamed with the singer-songwriter Sarah Ruba Taylor and the producer Switch (M.I.A., Santigold), and served as a co-producer, co-writer and percussionist (she played timbales on the single “Like Sugar”).

Khan writes quickly, in the studio, sometimes from poems she jots down on whatever is handy. “I think with every track, what the song is about is already there before you put the words down,” she said. For this album, “no deep thoughts were necessary. It was a lot of fun.”

In a phone interview from Chicago, her hometown, where she was shooting a TV show and visiting with family, the enduring voice behind hits like “I’m Every Woman” explained why she wanted to make a danceable record now. “I’m a happier person these days,” she said. “My entire life has been challenging and troublesome — and great, you dig? I may go in and out, like everybody else. I’m going through a nice slot right here. I’m achieving some things that I wanted to for a long time.”

At 65, Khan — who used to play basketball with her longtime friend Prince (“I’m not trying to run around the court,” she said, but “I can shoot”) — talked about her recent rehab stint, taking ownership over her career and why she has no plans to retire. “I can still play basketball right now,” she said, “and I can still drop it like it’s hot onstage.”