April 02, 2004

Publication title: CanWest News, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Edmonton
Writer: Unknown

Nothing Stupid about McLachlan’s musical career

EDMONTON – As Sarah McLachlan squirms in her seat, waiting for Sunday night’s Juno winners to be announced, the five-time nominee won’t be fretting about her fellow competitors.
Her real nemesis, it seems, is shrimp. The usually glowing songbird was feeling lower than Todd Bertuzzi’s sucker-punch victim after eating sketchy prawns last week.

“I was pretty stupid,” sighs McLachlan, exhausted but still perky enough for a quick phone interview less than 24 hours later.

“We had a big birthday party for my daughter on Saturday and we had leftover prawns on Sunday. I’m like, `You idiot, you don’t eat leftover seafood.’ But like a little piglet I am, I couldn’t help myself and ate seven or eight of them. Five hours later, it’s coming up both ends. It’s not pleasant. I should’ve known better. I was pretty stupid.”

She’s being too self-critical, really; who can resist the call of the prawn?

But thanks for the segue, Sarah. Her new single, Stupid, is now climbing the charts. It’s the second from Afterglow, McLachlan’s first studio album in six years. She sighs when asked what Stupid is about.
“Good gosh. Probably thinking about past relationships and letting things get too far. I think we’ve all been in a situation where we’re stuck there and we know it’s not very healthy for us, but sometimes it’s hard to see straight in the eye of the hurricane.”

Aside for her recent bout of food poisoning, McLachlan is in a healthy phase of her life and career. She and husband Ashwin Sood recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary and their daughter, India, is almost two. (Her birthday is on April 6, but McLachlan decided to throw the party a bit earlier.)
Sunday night, the celebrations might continue as McLachlan is up for four Junos.

She’ll be competing against Nelly Furtado in three categories _ album, artist and songwriter of the year _ but, contrary to the media’s spin on things, McLachlan doesn’t see the Junos as a battle between the two west-coast mommies.

“What battle?” she laughs. “Oh my god, you scared me. I thought, `Had I not heard the news about some fight we’re having?’ I’ve heard Nelly’s one single on the radio and I thought it was absolutely amazing … She’s super talented.”

McLachlan, who already has three Grammys and countless Junos, won’t be too disappointed if she doesn’t end up as Sunday night’s big winner. She’s not motivated by awards and doesn’t even keep her trophies at home. Instead, they’re in the Vancouver offices of her label, Nettwerk Records.

“Everybody loves to win, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t validate me,” she says.

Secretly, McLachlan says, most performers don’t like to win awards. She may enjoy the exhilaration of performing, but she’s terrified by the thought of rushing to the podium and trying to make a coherent acceptance speech. Just like Kathleen Edwards, who is also nominated for songwriter of the year.

“I was sitting at the Grammys when I was nominated a couple of months ago (for Fallen) and I was thinking `I don’t want to win, I don’t want to win, please don’t make me have to say something.’ And sure enough, I didn’t and I breathed this huge sigh of relief,” chuckles McLachlan, who ended up losing the female pop vocal performance award to Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful.

“What a terrible, terrible reason for not wanting to win something. But if I have to get up and make a speech, that’s the bane of my existence. That and things coming out both ends at once.”