R&B star Fantasia is prepping her third studio album for release later this year. According to the latest reports, the American Idol winner is doing things a little differently this go round:

Washington, DC -- Fantasia plans to record her third CD the old-fashioned way. Fantasia likes the live sound from older albums, before technology changed the way they were recorded. She says she's invited an orchestra to be in the studio to back her up when she sings.

The songs she's been writing reflect the pain she experienced last year. She says she "went through a lot of things, business-wise, relationship-wise." She says her life has always been an open book. Fantasia will go back to work on the CD when she gets a break from touring in "The Color Purple."