Beyoncé is ready to take 2013 by storm! After revealing her sizzling cover for GQ’s upcoming “Sexiest Woman of the 21st Century” issue, the pop star opens up with the magazine on social equality, parenthood, preparing for her headlining halftime show at Super Bowl XLVII next month, and her upcoming fifth solo album due the earliest this spring.

On the album front, Beyoncé reveals her untitled album will arrive the soonest this April. But before its release, she’ll embark on a world tour to promote the project. In the candid piece, B’ reveals to GQ correspondent Amy Wallace that she’s recorded over 50 songs already and has hit the studio with some familiar heavy-hitters. She also touches on the inspiration for the follow-up to her 2011 album, 4.

“I’ve been working with Pharrell and Timbaland and Justin Timberlake and [The] Dream. We all started in the ’90s, when R&B was the most important genre, and we all kind of want that back: the feeling that music gave us.

Mostly R&B. I always have my Prince and rock/soul influences. There’s a bit of D’Angelo, some ’60s doo-wop. And Aretha and Diana Ross.”

You can get a copy when the issue hits newsstands nationwide on Tuesday, January 22nd.

Read some more excerpts, plus photos from Beyoncé’s GQ shoot after the jump…..

On achieving her goals, and work ethic:

“I worked so hard during my childhood to meet this goal: By the time I was 30 years old, I could do what I want,” she says. “I’ve reached that. I feel very fortunate to be in that position. But I’ve sacrificed a lot of things, and I’ve worked harder than probably anyone I know, at least in the music industry. So I just have to remind myself that I deserve it.”

Beyoncé on the Super Bowl and how she prepares for live performances:

“One of the reasons I connect to the Super Bowl is that I approach my shows like an athlete,” she says now. “You know how they sit down and watch whoever they’re going to play and study themselves? That’s how I treat this. I watch my performances, and I wish I could just enjoy them, but I see the light that was late. I see, ‘Oh God, that hair did not work.’ Or ‘I should never do that again.’ I try to perfect myself. I want to grow, and I’m always eager for new information.”

Beyoncé on her songwriting and the process of creating songs:

“I used to start with lyrics and then I’d find tracks—often it was something I had in my head, and it just so happened to go with the melody. Now I write with other writers. It starts with the title or the concept of what I’m trying to say, and then I’ll go into the booth and sing my idea. Then we work together to layer on.”

What inspires her:

“Even the silliest little thing that you hear on the radio, it comes from something deeper. ‘Bootylicious’ was funny, but it came from people saying that I had gained weight and me being like, ‘I’m a southern woman, and this is how southern women are.’ My motivation is always to express something or to heal from something or to laugh and rejoice about something.”

Photos by Terry Richardson for GQ

Read the full cover story over at GQ.

Previously: Snap-Back Body: Beyoncé on GQ’s ‘100 Sexiest Women Of The 21st Century’ Issue