NEW YORK (AP) — Mariah Carey is known for her five-octave range, and she says her voice has gotten stronger, thanks to pregnancy.

The 42-year-old gave birth to fraternal twins in April via C-section. She recently lost 30 pounds by following the Jenny Craig diet, and says the process has enhanced her vocals.

“Right now I feel like pregnancy actually helped me vocally,” Carey said in an interview Wednesday. “At this moment my voice is in great shape.”

The Grammy winner is also working on new music, which she said is partly inspired by her pregnancy.

Carey made the comments as she was announced as the new brand ambassador for Jenny Craig, which is now called Jenny. The singer said after giving birth she was “approached by a lot of different companies,” but that the folks at Jenny “understood me.”

During her pregnancy Carey dealt with gestational diabetes and toxemia. She says “you couldn’t make me go through that again.

“I knew I was going to gain weight during the pregnancy, but I didn’t think about the pain the weight would cause,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to walk again … I couldn’t get up out of my chair alone.”

Carey said in addition to eating right, she worked out a lot, though husband Nick Cannon wasn’t her partner in that sense.

“He’s in great shape and he can eat anything he wants (and) I’m jealous of that,” she said. “But sometimes I’m glad ‘cause he has candy by the bed, and I’ll sneak one of his little candies.”

Carey says her involvement with Jenny — which supports the American Heart Association’s “My Heart. My Life.” initiative — stretches beyond just helping women bounce back from weight gain during pregnancy.

“We just lost Heavy D,” she said of the rapper who collapsed and died Tuesday. “I considered him my friend and … he was (in his) early 40s, so it’s serious. It’s really serious.”

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Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.