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Sarah McLachlan: "I Would Love to Sing With Chris Martin," Plus What Does She Think of Miley Cyrus?!

"I would love to sing with Ray Lamontagne. Bon Iver would be great, Peter Gabriel that would be great," the 37-year-old star tells E! News

By Alyssa Toomey Mar 31, 2014 2:00 PMTags
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Sarah McLachlan is ready to reemerge on the music scene.

After a four-year hiatus, the 46-year-old beauty is set to release her eighth studio album, Shine On in less than two months and E! News will exclusively debut the first single on Tuesday.

But before the sure-to-be popular tune hits airwaves, we caught up with McLachlan to chat about her dream duet, the oversexualization of young stars in the music biz, as well as whether she would ever want to be a mentor on a singing competition show, such as The Voice or American Idol.

"I have a fairly long list," McLachlan spilled when asked who she would like to collaborate with. "I would love to sing with Chris Martin. I would love to sing with Ray Lamontagne. Bon Iver would be great, Peter Gabriel that would be great, long list," she said before adding, "The guy from Snow Patrol has a beautiful voice."

And what a fabulous list! So would she like to appear as a mentor on The Voice, like her dream duet partner Chris Martin?

"Yeah, I think that would be something that would be fun to do," she said. "I like The Voice…I could never be a judge because I think everybody would hate me! I think I'd be nice, but I'm always amazed that they have so much to say about each performance…I think I would just sitting there mute going ‘I don't really have anything to offer.' Whether it's a brilliant performance or very mediocre performance…sometimes I'd like to hear more constructive criticism."

When it comes to constructive criticism, McLachlan, who has been in the business for years, certainly has a lot to share, and she couldn't help but crack a joke when asked which young star she would like to take under her wing and mentor.

"Take 'em under my wing and smack ‘em?" she replied with a laugh.

"You know, I find people are going to do what they are going to do and if someone comes to me with a question or asking for advice I give it, but I don't tend to offer," she shared. "I don't go 'Hey you know what you really need to hear this from me' because who the hell do I think I am? Sure, I know how I live my life but everybody has their own path and all the mistakes that we make along the way, those are the things that teach us, hopefully, and make us grow."

But that doesn't mean she doesn't have an opinion on the pop music world, particularly because she has two young daughters, Taja and India.

"They [Taja and India] are incredibly into top 40, which, you know, I fought for the longest time," she said of her little girls. "But they love Lady Gaga, they love Miley Cyrus, their favorite thing now is the Frozen soundtrack."

And as a mother in the music biz, she works hard to protect her daughters from the extremely sexual content that is often portrayed in many pop songs.

"Well, I take comfort in the fact that these kids change fads like they change their underwear," the "Angel" singer said. "And they don't watch TV and they're not allowed on the Internet to watch videos. They hear the songs, if there are sexual references, right now, they are way too young to even understand what they are. They actually don't listen to music that way because I've talked to them about that...They haven't seen "Wrecking Ball" for instance, they love the song, actually I love the song, I think she [Miley Cyrus] sings the s--t out of it, it's a really strong song, but they haven't seen the video."

Be sure to check back tomorrow to hear Sarah's new song!