Sarah McLachlan – HuffPost Live 5.5.14

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Sarah McLachlan: I’m so loathe to give advice to anyone unless they ask me something really specific.

MR: Or maybe can you go into something creative that you’ve done?

SM: I sort of look at the business side of things and I think educating yourself as an artist from an early position is really important and also surrounding yourself with people who you can trust and who can allow you to recognize and bring forth whatever vision you want to achieve. I know that’s a tall order but I think it is really imperative to have good people around you who will have your back and also tell you when you’re being stupid. That also is tricky when you’re young and think you’re impervious and someone tells you they don’t like something and then , well, you can fire them. But I think, you know, find good people and stick with them if you can.

Show Host: Who do you know who to trust?

SM: Well, that in itself is really tricky. Ask a lot of questions and again, educate yourself. You have to be your own advocate for pretty much everything. You really do. If you rely on other people… You can rely on them for certain things but really you have to know when you’re answering a question, you have to know why you’re answering that question–why you’re saying no to something or why you’re saying yes to something. It’s not just because you don’t feel like doing it. What are the ramifications of that, what’s the fallout of that, what are the benefits of that? You have to kind of know a lot of things before you can really answer something, and then I think when you have as many answers as you can, you have that educated decision and then, really, you just have yourself to blame. I’m talking from personal experience too. [laughs]