Monica just dropped her album Code Red a few weeks ago and the singer is giving us all sorts of sexy on the new cover and spread for UPTOWN magazine.

The 35-year-old mother of three stuns in a set of black and white shots where she strips down like we haven’t seen her before, yet still manages to keep it classy and PG. Get into the snaps and excerpts below, spotted at YBF.

Monica on being guarded: “People wouldn’t really be able to imagine the things I’ve seen and been through. My talent has always been there, along with the spiritual foundation my mother laid, but there was always another side, a side that belonged to the streets. When my parents divorced, I became two different people.”

Monica on being Karl Lagerfeld’s muse: “I’ve been there and done that. I remember speaking with Karl and him telling me what ‘we’ were going to wear, and what his thoughts for me were. I’ve had moments that some [will not recognize] because social media wasn’t a thing back then. They weren’t done for the ‘Gram, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.”

Monica on her “Miss Thang” moniker: “Dallas [Austin] would bring producers in the studio to play records for me and I’d be quick to say ‘No’ if I didn’t feel it. I knew who I was and what I wanted to say. That’s where ‘Miss Thang’ came from. He’d say, ‘Miss Thang don’t like it!’ … Please don’t get me wrong, I will get someone together, quickly. You will not come at me wrong without repercussions.”

Monica on triumphing over tragedy: “As I think back over everything I’ve accomplished in my career—the awards, opportunities and exposure are all there, of course. But, what gives me unspeakable joy is the fact that I’ve touched countless women, and some young men, along the way with my music and my message. To know that I was helping to save lives while feeling like my own was in the process of ending, means more than any manufactured victory ever could.”