After the Francophone star's huge success, in 1998 and 1999, Lara went to New York City and San Francisco to record her first album in English.

She wrote or co-wrote most of the songs, working with Rick Allison and producers Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, Michael Bolton), Patrick Leonard (Madonna), Sam Watters (Color Me Badd, Jessica Simpson, Anastacia) and Mark Taylor (Cher, Enrique Iglesias).

After From Lara with Love, her first American TV special broadcast by PBS, the singer-songwriter participated in the very popular WTKU New York radio special, Miracle on 34th Street, where many popular artists appeared, including Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin and Toni Braxton.

Shortly after, when her self-titled English-language album was released in Asia, Lara scored a number one hit on the Taiwanese top ten, a great moment for the artist.

Many were particularly impressed with the song "Light of my Life" (found only on the Asian edition of the album), which she interpreted with Leehom Wang, Asia's top male Chinese-speaking vocalist.

This song was included in the movie feature China Strike Force, starring newcomer Lee-Horn along with Aaron Kwok, a box-office idol throughout Asia.