Sarah McLachlan talks Lilith Fair, her first new album in 11 years and yes, that ASPCA commercial

NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah McLachlan's first album in over a decade was supposed to be her last.

At least, it felt that way to her for a short while. Out Friday, the release, titled “Better Broken,” has been many years in the making. “It had been so long since I’d made a record,” she told The Associated Press. “I kind of thought, maybe this is my last one.” But working with a new team of collaborators reignited her enthusiasm for music discovery in the studio. These 11 tracks are the result — but they're not a swan song.

“Some of these songs are 14 years old. Some of them were written last year,” she said. “I was a dance mom for a bunch of years, and I was also the principal fundraiser for my music schools ... Music took a backseat. So that’s why it took 11 years.”

Now, music has clutched the steering wheel. In November, she'll tour “Better Broken” across nine U.S. cities, beginning in Washington on Nov. 16 at The Anthem and ending Nov. 29 at Los Angeles' The Orpheum Theatre. She'll hit Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco as well. General ticket sales begin Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. local time.

“Music is very healing, and it has healed me over and over and over again,” she said. With the “Better Broken” album and tour, she hopes her music can heal listeners, too, “in some small way. I hope it can lift them and connect them to their emotional worlds.”

In an interview with the AP, McLachlan discussed her new album, a forthcoming Lilith Fair documentary and yes, that ASPCA commercial.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

MCLACHLAN: ‘Better Broken’ is the oldest song. And it actually became the title track for the record as well, just because of that sentiment of resiliency, and reclamation of self, and picking up the pieces after things fall apart and rebuilding yourself. You know, figuring out a new way forward, which seemed like a great, sort of recurring theme on the record.

MCLACHLAN: I’m glad to hear you say that because I don’t have a lot of objectivity about it. I mean, I feel hopeful after hearing it, even though there’s some more heavy and intense subject matter. For me, music has always been this beautiful outlet, this therapy. It’s so cathartic to write and be able to find a place to put it. I feel so much better after it. It’s like medicine. So, I hope there’s some hope in it.

MCLACHLAN: I’m very optimistic. That optimism has been challenged a lot lately. But I believe in humanity. I believe in the good in people. And I believe in continuing to seek out the good in people. And I think if you stay open and curious in that manner, I think there’s a lot of positive shifts that can continue to happen.

MCLACHLAN: We changed attitudes within the music business. We dispelled any myth that you can’t put two women back-to-back on the radio or on stage. Clearly, we got rid of that idea. I think we created an amazing community for us, as women in the music business. I think we helped to create a safe space for fans.

And to show that when you lift each other up instead of tear each other down, you can create something beautiful. I think that’s a really lasting legacy. And I think a really important message, perhaps even more important today.

And now I look at, you know, artists like Brandi Carlile, who are constantly championing women. Or Taylor Swift having women open up for her — Phoebe Bridgers and Boygenius and there are all these bands that, you know, are working together and supporting other women. I love that, and I feel like maybe we had a small hand in that.

MCLACHLAN: I think it could. I think it’d be very dangerous. I think we’d have a target on our backs. And I think it would need to look different.

It would need to be championed by someone who was coming up today. .... It needs some youthful energy.

MCLACHLAN: I’m grateful I did it. ... But that’s my song. I retain ownership of that song. But yeah, I’m definitely aware that it brought me to a whole new fan base and changed the face of fundraising.

MCLACHLAN: I try and dispel any weirdness about that stuff. I’m just a normal person with a crazy job who has opportunities like that come across her desk. And, you know, I like feeling purposeful. I like being of service. It makes me feel good to think that I’m using my platform to do something good.

MCLACHLAN: I think because of the many associations, not just the ASPCA, but I’ve had so many people over the years tell me really intense stories about that song helping them through the loss of a parent, the loss of a child, contemplating suicide, pulling them back from the edge. And it is really intense periods in people’s lives where my music has been a part of it. And it’s helped them in some small way. So, for me, again, that’s the best validation in the world as an artist.

Sarah McLachlan poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sarah McLachlan poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sarah McLachlan poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sarah McLachlan poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sarah McLachlan poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday even as he has questioned her credibility to take over her country after the U.S. ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.

The Nobel Institute has said Machado could not give her prize to Trump, an honor that he has coveted. Even if it the gesture proves to be purely symbolic, it was extraordinary given that Trump has effectively sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of resistance in Venezuela. He has signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s second in command.

“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize," Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to Capitol Hill. She said she had done so "as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela, giving no timetable on when elections might be held. Machado indicated that he had provided few specifics on that front during their discussion.

She did not provide more information on what was said, and the White House did not say if Trump accepted the medal or offer other details of its own.

After a closed-door meeting with Trump, Machado greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the White House gates, stopping to hug many.

“We can count on President Trump,” she told them without elaborating, prompting some to briefly chant, “Thank you, Trump.”

Before her visit to Washington, Machado had not been seen in public since she traveled last month to Norway, where her daughter received the peace prize on her behalf. She had spent 11 months in hiding in Venezuela before she appeared in Norway after the ceremony.

The jubilant scene after her meeting with Trump stood in contrast to political realities in Venezuela. Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations, along with others in Maduro’s inner circle. In her first state of the union speech Thursday, the interim president promoted the resumption of diplomatic ties between the historic adversaries and advocated for opening the state-run oil industry to more foreign investment after Trump pledged to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales.

Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” but also said the meeting didn’t mean Trump’s opinion of her changed, calling it “a realistic assessment.”

Leavitt told reporters that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.

Leavitt said Machado had sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. She spent about two and a half hours at the White House.

“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado," the press secretary said while the meeting was still going on, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”

After leaving the White House, Machado went on to a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Machado told them that “if there’s not some progress, real progress towards a transition in power, and/or elections in the next several months, we should all be worried.”

“She reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.

Asked if Machado had heard any commitment from the White House on holding elections in Venezuela, Murphy said, “No, I don’t think she got any commitment from them."

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, was exultant following the meeting, saying Machado "delivered a message that loud and clear: What President Trump did was the most important, significant event in Latin America. That getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”

Machado's Washington stop coincided with U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seizing another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Leavitt said Venezuela's interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez's government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.

Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.” Machado had steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize, and had sought to cultivate relationships with him and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush, whom Chávez considered an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves, Michelle L. Price and Matthew Lee in Washington, and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is welcomed at the Capitol before a meeting with senators, from left, Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders two weeks after President Donald Trump toppled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a stunning military raid, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, center, leaves the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, center, is welcomed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., far left, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., right, as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gestures to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado smiles on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)