Sarah McLachlan Keeps Motherhood and Music Separate -- Exclusive Video

Before this week's release of 'Laws of Illusion,' it had been seven years since Sarah McLachlan last put out a new studio album. She's released music in that time, including two new songs on a greatest hits collection and a Christmas album, but 'Laws of Illusion' marks her return to being a full-time recording artist.

Unlike a lot of artists who wonder where the time has gone, McLachlan can tell you exactly what she's been doing. "There was a lot of time off, and I made a conscious choice to do that," she told Spinner when we sat down with her for a video chat at a trendy West Hollywood, Calif. hotel. "I'm a mom first and foremost, and I'm extremely lucky that at my age and the place I'm at in my career, I can pick and choose what I want to do, how much I want to work, how much I want to put it aside and focus on just being a mom."

McLachlan may be a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum artist who earned a permanent place in music history as the founder of the Lilith Fair tour, but to her kids, now eight and three years old, she is still just mom. "I've sort of kept them separate from it. It's enough of an intrusion for my eight-year-old when we go out and people come up to me and want my autograph," she says. "She's like 'What's up with that? Do you know them?' And I say, 'They wanted my autograph. They like my music.' For her, there's nothing really interesting about it. Quite frankly, mom the celebrity, mom the musician is an annoyance because it takes my attention away from her."

"They just want you to be present," she adds. "They just want you to be there to make them breakfast and to help them with their homework and whatever it is that they need. They're pretty simple creatures."

But their mom is also still a musician and she wants her kids to know that as well. "For daughters, to see that their mother is working and doing something that is important to her and that she loves outside of being a mother, that's a really good thing to show your kids."

For more of McLachlan's thoughts on Lilith Fair and her new album, check out Spinner's exclusive video interview below.