Sarah McLachlan Talks Lilith Fair, "Angel," Toy Story and First Album in 11 Years

Back with her first album in eleven years — Better Broken — we’re so thrilled to have Sarah McLachlan on the couch for the first time. A trailblazing, confessional, slice-of-life songwriter whose music goes for the jugular and resonates to this day, McLachlan broke in the 90s, rising up with the likes of Jewel, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, and Alanis Morrissette, to name a few. As artists they had to work ten times harder than their male contemporaries. Imagine a world where the powers that be said: two women on a bill? Nah. Two female artists played back-to-back on the radio? You must be joking! 

Off the back of such rampant discrimination the Canadian singer founded the traveling, female-foregrounded festival, Lilith Fair when she was just 29-years-old. It ran for three summers and at one point was bigger than Lollapalooza. We talk about all this and the newly released Lilith Fair documentary out on Hulu now (watch it!), not to mention how, given the constant erosion of women’s rights thanks to the current administration, a new gen Lilith Fair feels more timely than ever!

We also get into the nitty-gritty of what she’s been up to for the past eleven years, her experiences parenting (and collaborating with) her two daughters, and the stories behind some of her biggest hits like ‘Angel’ — about the tragic passing of Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. He was an artist she didn’t know personally and yet now, on this album she’s collaborating with Jonathan’s sister Wendy, herself a legendary guitarist who was part of Prince’s band. Additionally we discuss the creation of her seminal 1993 LP, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, her stalker(s) and the song it inspired, and her cover of Randy Newman’s ‘When She Loved Me’ (off Toy Story 2). 

McLachlan is stunningly candid about her own childhood, her relationship with her mother and generational patterns, and the topics on her new album, which in part parses a toxic romantic relationship — confronting her own denial, self-loathing, and eventually healing (and a massive f**k you!).

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