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"It’s just really, really exciting to give birth to something you’ve been nurturing and giving so much love to." No, she is not talking about bearing a child, she’s discussing delivery of a different sort: bringing life to her current album, “Back to Basics.”

Christina Aguilera’s delight with her creation is palpable. She sweetly laughs at herself when she talks about what a perfectionist she is, glowingly praises the 2-CD set’s producers, DJ Premier and Linda Perry, and infectiously enthuses about taking the songs from the studio to the stage.

The “Back to Basics” tour arrives in Las Vegas March 3rd when Aguilera, recently nominated for two Grammy Awards for best pop female vocalist and best pop vocal album, plays the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Opening for the singer are the Pussycat Dolls and Danity Kane.

For Aguilera, bringing “Back to Basics” to life is exhilarating. “This tour, in particular, lends itself to so many theatrics and amazing visuals,” she says. “It’s quite the vision with my dancers and the costumes. You get into the circus elements and the big top elements, but in a dark, kind of throwback-to-the-‘20s vein.”

Taking care of her voice for show night requires the same discipline as an athlete preparing for game day. “I definitely have to take care of it and treat it like an instrument,” she says. “Just like a runner would ice and rest and warm up, you know, that’s his instrument. My material challenges me vocally, and to do it every night, I definitely have to be careful, rest as much as possible, warm it up with lots of hot tea and steam, and watch the air conditioning. These are the things that really help me pull off a good show and don’t push my voice to a place where I can’t do it.”

That voice has to run through a bushel of chart toppers that spans her entire career: “I’ll do a lot more new material than any old material,” she says, but adds, “I reinvent the older songs with a little twist so it meets where I am right now.”

And where she is right now is a very good place.