{blackbabes} Jennifer Hudson is happy to be 'this real girl'

Brad Pitt / Britney Spears / Colin Farrell / Amazon.com

NEW YORK — A few hours after performing live on Today, Jennifer Hudson is sitting in Central Park's Strawberry Fields, people-watching and listening to a busker sing Beatles songs.

"My favorite place to be in the world is on a park bench," says Hudson, 33, whose new album, JHUD, arrives Tuesday. "You get to see all of life around you." The singer/songwriter/actress draws a few is-that-her glances, but given her casual manner, they don't become lingering stares.

That's the way Hudson likes it, apparently. The title of JHUD — a collection for which she collaborated with Pharrell Williams, R. Kelly and Timbaland, among others — was born when "I noticed that's what everyone's been calling me. And I want people to get to know me personally as that, as this real girl." On a number of crisply produced, rhythmically driven tracks, she wields her robust, creamy voice with a palpable playfulness.

In contrast, Hudson says, there is "the Jennifer Hudson persona, where everything can seem so heavy or emotional or strong. That's part of me," as are various projects and roles Hudson has been associated with. She ticks them off: American Idol (Hudson finished seventh on Season 3), Dreamgirls (the film that earned her a supporting-actress Oscar in 2007), spokeswoman (for Weight Watchers, though she parted ways with the brand last spring).

But these days, Hudson is more focused on other pursuits, among them motherhood. Walking across the park to catch a ride to a meeting with Clive Davis, JHUD's producer, Hudson chats animatedly about "Little David," her 5-year-old son with professional wrestler David Otunga.

Watching her son grow, seeing "how creative he is already — that made me more confident." They sing together: "He has a good ear. And he's a little performer." And while his musical faves include kiddie fare such as The Best Day Ever (from SpongeBob SquarePants), he shares at least one musical idol with his mom: "He's obsessed with Michael Jackson."

At Davis' office, Hudson gets to hear new music from another hero, as the producer plays tracks from Aretha Franklin's upcoming album of diva classics, out Sept. 30. While Hudson has no future film projects confirmed, she says she would love to play the Queen of Soul — and her name has been bandied about for such a project.

Davis notes that Franklin is a great admirer of Hudson, and agrees that "Jennifer has the acting chops and the vocal ability to do Aretha justice."

For now, the focus is on promoting JHUD. Hudson's last album, 2011's I Remember Me, is still short of gold status (459,000 albums sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan), and she hasn't gone top-40 with a single on Billboard's Hot 100 since her self-titled first album. But Davis is confident that "Jennifer is her own best ambassador. You just have to get people to hear her sing — she'll do the rest."

Hudson says a tour "is in the works," and her general tendency is toward optimism. Her late mother "used to tell me, 'You find the positive in everything.' And that's what I'm trying to teach my son: to make the best of every situation in life."