All ‘Grown’ up: Babyface is back with a new CD

His nickname sounds young, but his music has matured.

Babyface is back after being in the background for years, releasing his ninth album, appropriately titled “Grown & Sexy.”

Born Kenneth Edmonds, the 47-year-old was a fixture in the ‘90s as a triple threat: songwriter, producer and singer. He has 119 Top 10 pop and R&B hits to his name, and he has been behind hits by such diverse artists as Whitney Houston, Madonna, Boyz II Men, Celine Dion and Eric Clapton. His label LaFace has also introduced such popular artists as OutKast and Usher.

He is on a short tour but is planning a larger one in the future.

The multi-Grammy winner spoke by the phone before a concert in Connecticut.

Q. Why the name “Grown & Sexy”?

A. Just realizing that the way I look at “grown” right now is sexy – it just kind of works with the time period and for this music I make.

Q. A lot of fans have been anticipating your return since your last release in 2001, but why now?

A. I finally just came up with something that I was OK with. I go though a lot of things … I’ll scrap it, start again, scrap it, start again.

Q. Tell me how you put this newest album together.

A. I did go through a number of different songs, and at one point, the album was more jazzy oriented, and very, very adult because it was more jazz-flavored. …Then ultimately I kind of just came with what felt like a record that was more classic Babyface that still had passion and emotion, but still felt a little close to today, in terms of the sounds and feel of the music and the groove in it.

Q. Why did you decide to scrap the jazz part?

A. I think because the record company wanted me to stay a little more mainstream.

Q. On your last album, “Face2Face,” you experimented by adding funk and hip-hop to your soul, but on this album you returned to your more classic sound. Why is that?

A. I think because fans did want a little more of that, and I think it was time for it as well. Before I ran away a little from it because I was trying to come from a different place, but this time, I felt like, it’s not so much be different, maybe just to flip it just a little bit. In listening to the older stuff that I’ve done in the past, the one thing that I did like about it was the emotion and the passion that was in it – that’s what I wanted to make sure that I tried to get back to, not to repeat what I did, just to get back to that feeling.

Q. You mentioned before about being stuck in “ballad land.” Your thoughts on that now?

A. Even with the ballads that are here on this record, there’s still a certain tempo and it’s got a groove to it, so even in the world of ballad land, I still think I’ve found a medium.

Q. How do you think you’ve grown as an artist?

A. If anything, I think just in the writing style I’ve tried to stay somewhat current, in terms of the words, and how you use words, and how you phrase things, but for the most part, I try to stay musical and not lose the whole idea of songwriting.

Q. With so many young cats in R&B now, do you feel the need to compete, or are you on a different level now?

A. Now I’m in a whole other field. Even though it’s R&B, I just kind of do what I do. … I’m grown, they’re younger, so the line crosses right there. This is really about being grown and sexy.

Q. Who do you think is your audience now?

A. I think my audience is kind of wide. When I perform and when people come up to me, I’m pretty surprised about who’s aware of me.

Q. How do you approach writing for such disparate artists as Eric Clapton and Madonna?

A. The process is only trying to think of whatever you’re saying, whether its believable for that person and that personality, whether they can get away with saying certain things, whether they seem vulnerable or whether they seem like they would be cocky, or whatever their story is.

Q. What other artists besides Musiq are you working with now?

A. I’m doing a tribute for the Bee Gees, and so it’s a variety of artists that I’m working with, … Paul McCartney and Sheryl Crow and Jagged Edge. Rascal Flatts is interested as well. It’s going to be fun to go in and work with artists I wouldn’t usually work with, but I’m doing all this at the same time, while I’m going out supporting the records and doing tour dates, so it’s kind of a busy schedule.

Q. A lot of groups are returning, like Jodeci and New Edition. What are your thoughts on groups coming back together and artists coming back?

A. I think it’s always great for those who can give us something new and give us something you want to hear, and … create new memories for us.