For Idina Menzel, new CD is 'a new beginning' after tumult

NEW YORK -- It's only five letters -- just her first name, unadorned. All in lowercase, with a period at the end.

"Frozen" and Broadway star Idina Menzel has a new introspective album out this month after a tumultuous few years, and its simple title -- "idina." -- is as stripped-down as it gets.

"I guess I want people to feel like they really get to know me on a first-name basis," she said. "The period says some kind of confidence, but the lowercase is, like, not completely arrogant."

In the eight years since her last original studio CD, Menzel has shot to global fame singing "Let It Go," had her name mangled by John Travolta at the Oscars, given birth to a son, poured her heart into a new Broadway show and seen her marriage to Taye Diggs collapse.

She's come out the other end with a mature pop album and a new engagement to actor Aaron Lohr.

"It's a new beginning -- personally, in my life," she said. "The music was written and is about things that I was experiencing in the last couple of years, sort of putting an end to one era of my life and figuring out how to start again."

The new album is personal, with storm clouds seemingly everywhere.

"Heaven knows, I went through hell," she sings on "Show Me."

On "I See You," she says: "Here's to the hopeless/The almost forgotten/To those who got lost along the way/I see you."

The woman who once sang "Defying Gravity" is now singing "goodbye gravity" on one song.

Menzel leaned on two producers -- Eric Rosse and Greg Wells -- and she had a hand in writing virtually every song, from "I Do," with its clear dig at Diggs ("Remember you told me/You're my one and only"), to the upbeat, hear-me-roar "Queen of Swords" ("Don't go asking me for apologies").

The 45-year-old singer and actress said her turmoil came at the same time as career success, spinning her head.

She'd go into the studio angry at the world, yet emerge with hopeful songs.

"I was going through a divorce and, simultaneously, my career was taking off in a bigger way than ever, with 'Frozen' and all of that.

"And so here I am singing at the Oscars and then dealing with mediation and visitation agreements," she said. "The dichotomy of that, the contradictions and the guilt and regret that I was feeling all at this wonderful time professionally, was very dynamic for me."

Dan McCarroll, president of Warner Bros. Records, signed Menzel three years ago while she was starring in the Broadway musical "If/Then."

The two met over dinner and talked about what kind of album she wanted to make.

"She was very clear that night about what she wanted to do. For me, the album represents exactly what we talked about," he said. "She was true to who she is and said what she needed to say." He added: "There's some really deep stuff on this record."

Menzel also recently finished shooting a Lifetime remake of the 1988 film weepie "Beaches," taking on the role originated by Bette Midler.