Madonna’s 12th studio album will be released in the spring of 2012, with its first single due out in February or March.

The diva announced the news herself in an interview with Sweden’s Sveriges Television (SVT) in Venice, Italy. Madonna is there to promote her film “W.E.,” which premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, Sept. 1.

Madonna says that she’s “started a little bit of work in the studio” for the forthcoming album and will continue recording in “New York, until the end of the year” when she returns to the United States. The entertainer began working on the album officially on July 4, as confirmed by her manager Guy Oseary, via a tweet. That day marked her “1st day in the recording studio for the new album.”