The 60-year-old singer - who has Lourdes, 22, Rocco, 18, David, 13, Mercy, also 13, and six-year-old twins Estere and Stelle - has been planning to make a new movie but got "bored" with the process so found herself back in the recording studio.
Asked how she suddenly finds herself with ideas and knows it's time to make an album, she told MOJO magazine: "Sometimes that happens. But it has definitely not happened in the last... three records.
"Honestly, the last couple of albums, I've made them reluctantly.
"Both times I was trying to do something else- get a film made.
"That happened on this record too. I moved to Lisbon because I wanted my son [David] to be able to attend a soccer academy and then I was trying to raise money for a film and then I got bored waiting and then I ended up making a record.
"So it just kind of happened. It wasn't like a burning thing that I had."
But when she does start working on new music, Madonna is "very focused".
She said: "Because time is so limited and precious, you do have to be laser-focused and not waste any time.
"Because you're juggling, you know? Taking care of six children and they live in three different countries and you're doing other jobs and taking care of other people.
"And I do have other areas of interest and filmmaking is one of them.
"I've been working for years on a screenplay and I've another script that I'm supposed to direct.
"With this album, at first I was just playing around and experimenting and then I was officially making a record.
"And when that happened, I did have to become very focused."
And the 'Holiday' hitmaker admitted some of her albums have come from a need to make a record.
She said: "Other times, I did have lots of ideas stirring inside me and I did have a burning desire.
"'Ray of Light' would be one. 'Like A Prayer'.
"But my life was simpler then. 'Like A Prayer' - I was married to Sean [Penn] and I had no children and my life was very simple.
"'Ray of Light', I had my daughter, but again, I didn't have such a complicated life. Now my life is complicated."
