Sarah McLachlan - "Ice Cream"

She’s been around since the early 90’s and her music is still and beautiful and impactful now, as it was then. This song is an oldie but a goodie. It holds a special place in my heart, and when you wake up full of the warm fuzzies this is the kind of feeling you hold on to.

Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan debuted in 1988 with her piano-based folk-pop, which went on to gain her a devoted following, a number of Juno and Grammy Awards, and placement in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. She also founded Lilith Fair, a concert tour that helped usher other female songwriters into the mainstream during the late '90s, while maintaining her own presence on the charts.

McLachlanwas born on January 28, 1968, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she began taking lessons for voice, classical piano, and guitar as a child. Following a year of art training at the Nova Scotia School of Design,McLachlan(who had also been fronting a new wave band named October Game) was approached by Nettwerk Records and offered a solo deal. She initially turned it down in favor of continued studies; however, she reconsidered and accepted the offer in late 1987, relocating to Vancouver soon after. On the strength of her debut, 1988'sTouch, the budding songwriter was signed to Arista for international distribution. The album eventually reached gold status in Canada and was reissued worldwide in 1989. In 1991, she followed up withSolace, an impressive collection that showed a great leap in songcraft and began to build a strong cult following in the U.S.

In September 1992, following a 14-month promotional tour,McLachlantraveled to Cambodia and Thailand to work on World Vision, a Canadian-sponsored documentary on poverty and child prostitution. Inspired by her experiences, she retreated to a secluded house outside of Montreal to write material for her next album. After six months in a Montreal studio with collaborator/producerPierre Marchand, she releasedFumbling Toward Ecstasy, her strongest and most personal effort to date, in late 1993. The album peaked in the U.S. charts at number 50; by the end of 1994, it reached platinum status after spending 62 weeks on the chart. "Possession," an atmospheric single that mixed electronica influences with lyrics inspired by a stalker, broke the Top 100 and received considerable airplay, especially on modern rock radio, where it peaked at number 14. "Good Enough" also found a home in that format, reaching number 16.The Freedom Sessions, consisting mainly of alternate versions of tracks fromFumbling, arrived in 1995; that same year also saw the release of "I Will Remember You," whichMcLachlanwrote as the theme for Brothers McMullen.Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff, a collection of non-LP tracks and remixes, was issued in Canada in 1996.

In 1997,McLachlanbegan work on her fourth album, the enormously successfulSurfacing, which debuted at number two on the pop albums chart. She also organized Lilith Fair, a package tour focusing on emerging women singer/songwriters. Released in 1999, the multi-platinumMirrorballchronicledMcLachlan's performances on that tour and served as her first live release. In 2003, after a short hiatus from the business, she put out the successfulAfterglow, followed by another concert release,Afterglow Live. Both releases eventually went multi-platinum, andMcLachlancontinued to tour through 2005. In June of that year, she performed on the Philadelphia stage of Live 8, the multi-city anniversary celebration of Live Aid and G8 summit protest coordinated by Live Aid founderBob Geldof. She releasedBloom, her second remix collection, several months later. While most of its material was drawn fromAfterglow, it also included a version of the 1989McLachlantrack "Vox" and a previously unreleased collaboration withDMCandBlack Eyed Peas'will.i.am.

McLachlanreleased two albums in 2006:Mirrorball: The Complete Concert, which captured the entirety of the last date on her 1998 tour, andWintersong, a collection of traditional and modern Christmas covers (plus one new song, the title cut). She then returned to original material for 2010'sLaws of Illusion, her first studio album in nearly seven years. Featuring "One Dream," which she wrote for the 2009 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, the album was released several weeks before the start of Lilith Fair 2010, the festival's first appearance in more than a decade.McLachlanspent the next couple of years focusing on her charitable endeavor The Sarah McLachlan School of Music, which provided free music lessons to at-risk kids in Vancouver. She returned to the studio in 2013 to record a new album with longtime collaboratorPierre Marchand, inspired by the recent death of her father. Parting ways with Arista, her label home for more than 20 years, she signed to Verve. She releasedShine On, her first album for the label and another collaboration withPierre Marchand, in May of 2014.Shine Ondebuted at number one on the Canadian charts and number four in the U.S.; it would win the Juno for Best Adult Contemporary Album. In October 2016,McLachlanreleasedWonderland, her second Christmas album. The following year, she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

So today, with ice cream on my chin, I choose Sarah McLachlan’s "Ice Cream" as my, go on and smile, stay hopeful, today will be as beautiful as you let it, song for a, hold on to the feeling, don’t let the bastards get you down, put down the cross, Friday.