When I connect with Chantal Kreviazuk, she's just stepped off a plane in Los Angeles.

It sounds glamorous, but the 35-year-old Winnipeg expat is calling the City of Angels home these days. And while she is the midst of promoting a new album, Plain Jane, she was jet-setting for a different - and, if you ask her, a more important - reason. Kreviazuk was in Vancouver the night before our interview, performing at a gala at Canuck Place, a children's hospice that provides palliative care for kids living with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

The organization is one of many Kreviazuk supports. In addition to Canuck Place, she also lends her talents to Toronto's Centre for Addiction & Mental Health and Hospital for Sick Children, as well as the University of Winnipeg's Opportunity Fund and Polar Bears International. She's also been involved with War Child Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to war-affected children around the world. In September, she hit the streets in Toronto as part of the charity's recent Busking For Change campaign and achieved her personal goal of raising $30,000 to build a youth centre in Darfur, Sudan.

"It brings a lot of meaning to my life," she says. "My job can come with a lot of negativity and selfishness, and it's not always totally healthy. Being a part of the world in that way is important. You can get so focused on the artist part, which can be so governed by narcissism and self-promotion."

Kreviazuk says her move to L.A. from Toronto with husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, and their three boys has helped her feel more grounded - a theme which explored on Plain Jane's title track.

"It's kind of a self-study," she says. "I live part-time in L.A. and part-time in Toronto. When I'm in Canada, I'm under the microscope more and there's usually more promotion going on. In L.A., I like to say that I get treated like crap like everyone else. I'm just a mom. I work really hard, but it's behind the scenes more.

"There was an element of struggle to feeling like a blender," she adds with a laugh. "When a Lady Gaga comes out, it's like, 'Forget it - how do I keep up with that?' But I'm not trying to keep up with that. I'm very, very boring. This song is me saying, 'No, I'm not going to be a narcissistic psycho.' It's a celebration of being a regular gal."

Although Kreviazuk gets to maintain a relative amount of anonymity (and normalcy) in the States, she's fast becoming a sought-after songwriter, having penned tunes for Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and, most recently, Faith Hill.

These days, though, she's focusing on her own work. Kreviazuk was recently named a finalist in CBC Radio 2's Great Canadian Song Quest and was tasked with immortalizing Waskada, Man. in song.

She's also thrilled to be back onstage.

"I love this album," she says with a laugh. "I love playing these songs live, and I'm getting to do that. I'm pumped."

CHANTAL KREVIAZUK
Nov. 11, 8 p.m., Pantages Playhouse Theatre
w/ Meaghan Smith