AceShowbiz -

Nicole Scherzinger sparked rumor that she might leave "The X Factor (US)" in a recent interview. The former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls revealed that in 2012, she's going to focus more on her music, something that she had no time to do this year due to her tight schedule as a judge on the singing competition.

"Next year for me, it's about my music," the brunette beauty told Radar Online before sharing her thought about being part of the talent show, "This has been quite a learning experience, quite a journey for me. I didn't expect to have been so emotional through the whole elimination process. I wanted to just mentor and empower artists."

The on-and-off girlfriend of Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton explained further, "The reason it hasn't come out yet is because of The X Factor. It's been so time consuming. I work with these contestants six days a week. So I delayed the album, but I was able to perform one of my new singles last week."

"I'm used to being on stage and performing and singing for people and people cheering for me," Nicole additionally stated. "I am an artist first, not a judge first!" However, the most difficult part for her was the elimination process. "I definitely took the cake this year [for crying] - I think I got 25 strong points on that!" she shared.

Nicole Scherzinger was initially set to host the show with Steve Jones, but she got promoted to be one of the judges after Cheryl Cole was kicked out. She received backlash for not giving her vote to Rachel Crow during the week 7 of the competition. "I can't make this decision," she tearfully said back then. "I'll have to go to a deadlock."