She's Canada's most successful aboriginal singer.

Her major-label debut CD sold more than 200,000 copies and spawned several hit singles on the adult contemporary charts.

Yet Susan Aglukark doesn't recommend following in her footsteps.

"I've met a lot of girls who are inspired to become a singer because I've done so well," says the Inuvik native, who performs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on Thursday with guest Sue Medley.

"But I'll honestly discourage them. It is a very hard industry and it is a very difficult adjustment to make in one's personal life.

"On the other hand, if a 15- or 16-year-old girl decides she is going to be a star and that's all there is to it, then I'm sure it's different for them.

"On one hand, I would discourage it and tell them to get a better career. But I've been very lucky and I can't say who's going to succeed and who's not."

The soft-spoken singer's latest release, Unsung Heroes, doesn't stray far from the soft pop and balladry of her platinum-selling debut, This Child.

Still, Aglukark can't help but be concerned about how people will respond to her sophomore effort.

"There was definitely a lot of pressure making this album," she says. "But I think a lot of it was self-imposed.

"We had heard so much about the sophomore jinx and you don't want to think about that while making a new album.

"So there was some tension and pressure. But you can't try and top an album -- you just keep writing and hope your writing gets better."

Fans of Aglukark may be surprised that she did not include any traditional language songs on the new record as she did on This Child.

She says it was just a matter of what songs she and songwriting collaborator Chad Irschick felt would best best benefit the album.

"We wrote for about a year and a half, two years, and the writing just happened to be like it was," says Aglukark, who took a bit of time off between albums to focus on raising her young son Cameron.

"There were no real conscious decisions being made. We just wrote what we thought were the best songs and they just happened to be the ones that got on the album."

While many of the songs on This Child were based on real-life experiences, Aglukark wanted to take a more universal stance on Unsung Heroes.

"I've learned to look a little more outward as opposed to inward," she says.

"I still deal with the same sort of issues, but I look differently at them."

Writing about issues as painful as sexual abuse and substance abuse are important to Aglukark, but she says it is time for her to "move on as a writer."

"I'll never steer away from dealing with those issues because they are very important and relevant issues and we need to deal with them," she says.

"But at 32, I'm ready to go on and write about other things.

"I don't think that makes me less of a role model or less of a representative," she says.

"I would just like to move on."