As the Vancouver International Jazz Festival readies their stages for the first day of the 2016 concert series on Friday, Vancouver’s own Sarah McLachlan spoke to Global News’ Sonia Beeksma ahead of her headlining performance, tackling life as a mom and singer, and of course, her music.
McLachlan is set to perform on Monday, June 27 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre after weekend stops at the Toronto and Ottawa jazz festivals. It’s a busy weekend for the Canadian singer, who has seen no shortage of acclaim in her career.
With 28 years in the business, 26 Juno Award nominations, three Grammy Awards, an Order of Canada, and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, McLachlan has managed to stay grounded and connected to the local music community.
“The subject I write about is pretty universal, so many fans come up to me saying ‘that song really resonated with me and it made me feel like I was less alone’ and and I think it’s the greatest gift music has to offer, myself and everyone else,” said McLachlan, explaining why so many people are able to connect with her music on an emotional level.
But with the changing music industry, the onslaught of streaming players like Spotify and Apple Music, the way music is bought and sold is something McLachlan is adapting to better than some.
“I think it is very much song by song now, I like the arch of an album, I like putting together a body of work, but that being said it takes a year or two. Right now I have a song that’s almost finished … why wait for an album? Let’s just put it out.”
“You may not be able to get as much noise and get as much traction with that one song but it’s still out there in the world,” she added.
And that strategy allows her to play never-before-heard songs at shows like the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Her latest, “The Long Goodbye”, is already on the setlist for Monday.
The way McLachlan selects the song list for some of her shows is another way she honours her community and fans.
With over a dozen albums, she says putting the question out on Twitter is one of the best ways to make her fans happy.
“I want to play what they want to hear. Obviously a lot of the songs people requested are sort of the obvious choices, and I’m happy to play all of those and I play some new ones.”
But regardless of what she plays, her performances at three jazz festivals across Canada in the next week isn’t without some minor controversy. Critics say she should not have been included in the line-up since she is not a jazz artist.
“Of course it doesn’t fit. But in the same way I’m not a folk artist and I’m playing folk festivals. These days in order to survive you need to diversify. No, I’m not a jazz artist at all, I don’t profess to even know very much about jazz. It’s an opportunity for me to play, so I said yes.”
She adds she won’t be incorporating any jazz influences into her set either.
“I’ve got a horn player though,” she laughed.
Her next big shows will be on the road touring the U.S. with singer Josh Groban this summer.
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