The sights, sounds and flavors of Europe inspired Macy to open up her musical palette.

One look at Macy Gray and you'd think it was the dead of winter, not a typical sticky California day in mid-July. Sitting in an oversized chair, the funk/soul sista is all bundled up in a turtleneck sweater with multicolored stripes and flared blue jeans. Her fabulous afro has been coifed into a softer, sleeker 'do, and her eyes are shielded by big brown sunglasses.

While noticeably restless, Gray's in a chatty, engaging mood. She throws out zany — occasionally X-rated — answers that seem primarily intended to crack herself up.

It's been two years since the Canton, Ohio-born singer released her breakthrough, On How Life Is. The album went triple-platinum and won a Grammy for its single "I Try," ratcheting up the pressure to deliver an equally stellar follow-up.

But rather than fret, Gray simply let loose in the studio and followed her instincts. The Id — a term coined by Sigmund Freud to refer to the most instinctive, impulsive and primal part of the unconscious mind — is a landmine of styles and sounds, merging classic soul, funk, rock, hip-hop and disco.

Co-produced by Gray, it features guest appearances by Erykah Badu, Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, Angie Stone, Billy Preston, Sunshine Anderson, Mos Def, the Roots' ?uestlove and Slick Rick. Teri vanHorn found out what it feels like to let it all hang out psychologically, how to sustain an atmosphere of fun during recording sessions and why she's sporting diamond-encrusted fronts in her movie debut.

MTV: Why The Id?

Gray: [Laughs] What it's all about is the id: what you do before you think and before you edit your impulses. What you're really feeling and what happens when you act on that. Like, if you feel like jumping off a cliff and you actually do it — that's the most primal, purest form of you. The album as a whole is about my particular id. [Remember being] a kid? Before you learn what's right and what's wrong and you just do stuff without thought of consequence? [You] just see how crazy and how much fun your life is and how much you discover about yourself. How much you can discover about people and how differently they can react to you. When you're just doing your thing, rather than cleaning everything up or being correct, or trying to fit in or be accepted. You're just living off of your subconscious. It's pretty dope.

MTV: What inspired you to go there?

Gray: I was in Germany, and I was talking to a friend of mine about something I had done that day. We started laughing and he said, "You're all id." It wasn't like any kind of flip that I switched. That's kind of what the music's about. Music is very automatic. It's very right there; you either love it or you don't. Music itself is kind of an id, 'cause it can be completely untamed, completely raw.

MTV: It sounds like you totally let loose in the studio this time. But at the same time you took more control.

Gray: Me and Daryle Swann produced it together [before executive producer Rick Rubin came in]. It's just a much truer expression of me and where I'm coming from. I didn't really have someone telling me what to do.

MTV: In certain places this album is more sophisticated than On How Life Is. But in other spots it's also a lot funkier. What's that a result of?

Gray: Just 'cause I'm feeling funkier and freer. We didn't have any limits this time. We just did our thing.

MTV: Coming off all the success of On How Life Is, was it a little daunting making this record?

Gray: Not really, 'cause I was so excited to start my next album. I had all these ideas in my head and I had this vision of what I wanted to do next. I was really excited to go in there and do it.

MTV: What was that vision?

Gray: I just wanted it to be bigger. Not sales-wise; I just pictured this big monster. I wanted that to be my album.

MTV: Sounds like you and Daryle were working with a ton of material. Why do you think it was such a prolific time for you?

Gray: A lot has happened to me in the past couple of years and I had other things to talk about, which is a blessing. I had traveled the world, so I heard a lot of different types of music. You go to France, and African rhythms are really big. You go to Germany, and you've got German hip-hop. Then you go to the clubs, and they've got all kinds of techno and drum'n'bass and jungle music. They have it in the States, but in Europe it's much bigger and much more mainstream. All of that crept into my subconscious and when I made this album, a lot of that ended up on [it].

MTV: What aspects specifically?

Gray: It wasn't anything that I forced. It was just around me. There's a lot of real wild beats on the album. Any time you travel, you go and do your thing during the day, and then the first thing you do at night is go out, go to clubs, check out the nightlife. I've got this song called "Sexual Revolution" and it's just straight disco. Then I've got "Relating to a Psychopath" and [it's] a rock beat mixed with a techno beat mixed with a hip-hop beat and a [Caribbean] bassline. It's the first thing you hear on the album, and the mix is over the top. It's wild. It kind of sets up the album, so you hear that and you think anything can happen. You don't know what to expect.

MTV: What's the first lyric again?

Gray: "Hot like hot wings with hot chocolate in hell." That's as hot as you can get.

MTV: What are you referring to?

Gray: The weather. Again, that was from me traveling the world and traveling to places like Israel [where] it's just hot and there's no savior. There's no breeze coming your way. Then you go to places like Norway and it's just cold like in [singing] "My isolation cell in the winter while kissing Mr. Freeze." It's one extreme to the other, but it's all in the same world. You dig?

MTV: "Sweet Baby" is a tender choice for the first single. Was it a way to lead people who fell in love with you through "I Try" into this album?

Gray: It's a cool little love song. It's about my first real, real, real, real love. It's like when you get to that level with that person where it's just all about you and him — what's going on in the outside world is secondary. That's nice.

MTV: You've got Erykah Badu on there. How did that come about?

Gray: Erykah's a friend of mine. I went to see her at a show in Vegas and I was hanging at a sound check and I asked if she would come and sing on the album. She wanted to sing on the single; she was real particular about that. She came in and I didn't know what she was going to do, because it's not an Erykah Badu-style song at all. She heard it and she went "doo ba, doo ba, doo." It sounds like a cartoon song, but she hooked it up. She worked all night and came back the next day to perfect it.

MTV: Why did you want to work with Rick Rubin? That's a move that people might not expect.