Sarah McLachlan splitting from husband

DETROIT (Billboard) - Canadian pop singer Sarah McLachlan is splitting from her husband of 11 years, and is sharing her grief with fans in two new songs.

"U Want Me 2" and "Don't Give Up on Us" both appear on her upcoming greatest hits album "Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan," which comes out October 7 via Arista Records in both a single-disc version and a two-CD deluxe package.

"I'm separating from my husband, so these are the songs about that," McLachlan, 40, told Billboard.com.

McLachlan and her husband Ashwin Sood, who plays drums in her band, reside in Vancouver. They have two daughters, six-year-old India Ann Sushil and Taja Summer, 14 months.

"I wasn't planning on saying anything," McLachlan added, "but it's gonna come out at some point. I haven't said anything about it because I've been terrified to, but I figure ... there's no good time to say it, so I just said it."

McLachlan called the situation "pretty gross" but did not elaborate on reasons for the separation or the couple's future plans.

She described "U Want Me 2" as "about that really uncertain, confusing place at the end of a relationship when there's no communication or closure, everything's still up in the air and there's a lot of anger and sadness. It's sort of that working through 'How do we move forward ... with some dignity and grace."

"Don't Give Up," she said, is "pretty self-explanatory, basically just a plea to give it another chance and keep trying."

McLachlan wrote both songs with her longtime producer Pierre Marchand. The video for "U Want Me 2" premiered Wednesday on Amazon.com.

McLachlan is planning a series of TV appearances to promote "Closer." She said she's also working on more new material and hopes to have a new album out within the next two years.

Reuters/Billboard