Ahead of a tribute concert for her Oct. 2 at the National Arts Centre, k.d. lang said she is “definitely in a recess” from the music industry.
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k.d. lang says she is taking a step back from mainstream music business life, describing her current phase as a “recess” ahead of a tribute concert in her honour at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre.
In an interview published Oct. 12, she said “recess” is a fit description for where she is now, explaining that she is “just playing and hanging out with my friends,” adding that she believes there may be “more work,” but that she does not feel “fully engaged in the music business anymore.”
She said her relationship with the business has long felt “a charged subject,” and reflected on her career’s rise from the mid-1980s onward. Her band, the Reclines, released the album “A Truly Western Experience,” which won her the Juno for most promising female vocalist. She later discussed landmark collaborations and awards, including her Grammy win tied to a new recording of Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” and a later Grammy for “Constant Craving,” off her album “Ingenue.”
Lang also pointed to her 1992 coming out as a lesbian, noting that when she came out she felt she could not “ever even consider representing the whole LGBTQ community,” and comparing that idea to trying to represent something vast and fluid. She described those feelings as “wonderful and burdensome,” saying the shift was complex—bringing both pride and changes to how attention moved between her personal life and her music.
The singer said her move toward Buddhism, which she described as beginning around the turn of the millennium, shaped how she thinks about fame. She said becoming a Buddhist practitioner while at the height of fame offered “some new ground,” but added that Buddhist teachings frame phenomena as not entirely real, which she said can reduce the need to take them “that seriously.”
Lang said those shifts helped change how she approached performing, adding that she started focusing more on the singing side of music and trying to be present during performances.
The interview also touched on later moments in her career, including a collaboration with Tony Bennett on the 2002 album “A Wonderful World,” which won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album, and “Hymns of the 49th Parallel,” described as a soundtrack featuring her covers of Canadian songs. She continued recording with releases including “Watershed” in 2008 and “Sing It Loud” in 2011.
Lang said a major life change came when her mother fell ill, prompting her move to Calgary to care for Audrey Lang. She said she participated in her mother’s “last 10 years wholeheartedly” and described that time as helping “defuse the grief” because she felt she was “fully present” for her. Audrey Lang died in May 2022 at age 99.
She said the time caring for her mother also played a role in her later-release rhythm, including the album “makeover,” which she described as featuring dance remixes of songs originally produced by DJs in the 1990s and not previously available. She said she has not been releasing new music in recent years, and connected that to her feelings about singing for her mother after her passing.
Lang said she still identifies as a performer but that performing in public is no longer a regular part of her life. She described it as “Liberating, emancipating,” adding that while she misses singing, she does not miss performing publicly.
She said she now lives in Portland, Ore., and described her daily routines as relatively low-key, including starting her day with coffee and daily puzzle games and visiting farmers markets. She said she is more likely these days to sing to a dog than on a stage, saying, “I sing to dogs, always.”
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