Surfacing

Surfacing is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan. Released in 1997, it was produced by McLachlan's frequent collaborator, Pierre Marchand. It was released in July 1997, coinciding with the start of McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour. The album reached the top position on the Canadian RPM 100 Albums chart, number two on the US Billboard 200 and became her first album to reach the top 50 outside of North America, achieving that in the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. It was certified as Diamond in sales in Canada and as 8× Platinum in sales in the US. Critical reviews were mixed; some of the more positive reviews praised the songwriting, while the album's detractors criticized it as banal and slow. The album spawned three top-three hits on the Canadian Singles Chart, including "Building a Mystery", which spent 8 weeks at number one, "Sweet Surrender", which reached number two, and "Adia" which ascended to number three. The fourth single "Angel" peaked at number nine, but did reach number three on the Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart, something the other three singles also achieved. Two of the songs, "Adia" and "Angel" were US Billboard Hot 100 top-five hits (the latter also peaking at number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart) while "Building a Mystery" was a top-15 hit and "Sweet Surrender" was a top-30 hit. "Adia" and "Angel" became her first songs to reach the top 40 in some countries outside of North America. The album won four Juno Awards including for Album of the Year. "Building a Mystery" was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, while the instrumental-only song "Last Dance" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Background Following the 1993 release of her third album and U.S. breakthrough, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, McLachlan spent two and a half years touring. This long period on the road finished in January 1996; over this time, the album slowly became a hit record. Work on the follow-up was scheduled to begin in April of that year, but Mclachlan found herself mentally exhausted at the time, later claiming that she'd personally wanted “Fumbling” to be her final record. She spent time working in the studio in Quebec but struggled to produce anything for her new album. At her manager's suggestion, she returned home to Vancouver and took six months off.