{"id":215813,"date":"2019-05-24T18:15:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T22:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=215813"},"modified":"2019-05-24T18:15:19","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T22:15:19","slug":"amidst-the-chaos-sara-bareilles-finds-a-new-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/24\/amidst-the-chaos-sara-bareilles-finds-a-new-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Amidst the chaos, Sara Bareilles finds a new voice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI felt like the world was on fire and I didn’t have any tools to just cope with the idea that I was in a catastrophe,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just like apocalyptic for me.\u201d (File Phot<\/a>o: @sarabareilles\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 Feeling \u201clost\u201d after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, Sara Bareilles found herself in a meditation class to help deal with the new American reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the world was on fire and I didn’t have any tools to just cope with the idea that I was in a catastrophe,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just like apocalyptic for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one thing she could do? Write songs.<\/p>\n

Her emotions, combined with navigating through an increasingly divided country, led to her latest album, \u201cAmidst the Chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the thing that always stays the most important is to feel that I’m being authentic and truthful in terms of what my messaging is,\u201d Bareilles said. \u201cAnd I think I’ve gotten less afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChaos,\u201d released last month, marks her return to pop music after a nearly six-year hiatus. It follows 2013’s \u201cThe Blessed Unrest,\u201d which boasted the successful single \u201cBrave\u201d and scored her a Grammy nomination for album of the year. During that gap, she wrote music for and later starred in the Broadway musical, \u201cWaitress.\u201d She’s earned two Tony Award nominations and released the theatre album, \u201cWhat’s Inside: Songs from Waitress,\u201d in 2015.<\/p>\n

Bareilles said theatre \u201ctook over my whole life,\u201d and she wanted to write music for herself again. That’s when she got in touch with iconic producer T Bone Burnett, who has won 13 Grammys and an Oscar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe algorithms may place her in more of a pop place with Katy Perry or something like that. (But) as an artist, as a songwriter, she’s much closer to Dylan,\u201d Burnett said.<\/p>\n

Labeling \u201cChaos\u201d a political album, however, is fair \u2014 and unfair. It’s filled with camouflaged love songs like \u201cNo Such Thing\u201d and \u201cIf I Can’t Have You.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are basically direct love songs to the Obamas, which I feel like at some point I’m gonna get a cease-and-desist because I’m such a fan-girl,\u201d Bareilles said with a laugh. \u201cI’m a proud believer in their messaging and their leadership and their grace. So I found that after the election, I was really heartbroken. I think a lot of people were.\u201d<\/p>\n

But don’t be confused \u2014 \u201cChaos\u201d is not anti-Trump music as there are no mentions of the president by name on the project. Instead, it features Bareilles speaking out more than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m 39 now, I turn 40 this year,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I look back on my life, I want to feel like I was outspoken for the things that really fall into my belief system and the causes and the people that I believe deserve advocacy. I really want to be someone who speaks up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added with a sly smile, \u201cIf that’s upsetting \u2014 sorry, not sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bareilles-Burnett combo has been decades in the making, even if he was unaware. \u201cHe’s been on my bucket list my whole life,\u201d she said. \u201cWrote letters to him when I was in my teens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnett helming the project gave her the opportunity to sit at a master’s footsteps. \u201cI had a little journal with me and there were so many bits of wisdom. And every time T Bone would say something, it sounded like a freakin’ fortune cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what might be surprising to Bareilles is that Burnett, 71, reciprocates the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at her as a teacher as well,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m almost twice as old as she is, so I can understand how I could slip into a teacher role. I’ve certainly had a lot of experience. She’s a smart person, and I have great respect for Sara.\u201d<\/p>\n

So much respect, he said her song \u201cOrpheus,\u201d a tune about being fearless and hopeful in a chaotic world, is \u201cone of the best songs I’ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confidence Burnett stirred up gave Bareilles, who will launch a tour this fall, the freedom to try things she had never accomplished before. For instance, her song \u201cSaint Honesty\u201d was recorded in one take. Burnett said love made it possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember loving her and appreciating what she was doing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if you genuinely love the thing that you’re doing and the people you’re working with, it’s an easy job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love is a concurrent theme pulsating through Bareilles’ music. While there are songs like \u201cArmor,\u201d birthed from her Women’s March participation, and \u201cA Safe Place to Land,\u201d a collaboration with frequent Trump-critic John Legend created when she and co-writer Lori McKenna saw footage of detained immigrant children last year, it’s still an album filled with stories from the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove has always been my deepest motivator,\u201d said Bareilles, who wrote the track \u201cPoetry by Dead Men\u201d about her boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if there’s any one message that I believe is worth sending \u2014 it’s that to love and be loved this is the greatest gift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Feeling \u201clost\u201d after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, Sara Bareilles found herself in a meditation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":215814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-gary-gerard-hamilton","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215815,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215813\/revisions\/215815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}