Sara Bareilles Talks About Upcoming Album: “Broken, But It Has Heart”
Sara Bareilles has been teasing a new album for many months now. Though she initially hoped to have a record out by the end of 2017, last fall she promised that 2018 will be the year. At the time, she already had some “slick songs” ready. Now that she’s entering the studio to officially begin recording, Sara gave a heartfelt update on where the new album is headed musically and lyrically. Sara admits that it may sound a bit broken – a reflection of the current state of the world – but it still has heart, too.
See her update on Instagram below:
My friend @shervinfoto took this. ?? It reflects how I feel right now. (With slightly less smiling) Music is all around us in all this raw life and I have been creating songs that simply try and put the feelings somewhere. I am making a new record very (VERY) soon with heroes of mine and since the world feels insane I feel like my record might reflect that. But I know it has heart. It might be broken, but it has heart. That is a good start.
In a new interview with Billboard earlier this month, Sara spoke at length about the themes of her upcoming album. In response to possibly having a heightened desire or responsibility to embrace some of the issues occupying so much of our collective social conscience, she said:
I think I feel what a lot of people are feeling, which is a reawakening of a global consciousness, and an awareness of some of these really just primal themes that have been a part of every artistic expression since the dawn of time. Division and identity and hate and fear and love — all these things that are so alive in our social climate. I want songwriters to speak to that and not pretend they are not a very big part of what our community at large is experiencing.
There is this epidemic of depression and anxiety, especially with young people. It’s a vulnerable time anyway, but now more than ever I feel the need to speak to these larger themes and try to parse them out a little bit and at least remind people, You’re not alone in that being a human is really hard, and we’re all trying to figure it out. You’re not alone if you’re confused or you’re fearful or you think you’ve failed in some way. We all end up in those places sometimes.
She also spoke about writing with a distinctly female voice:
In my perfect world there would be a nice balance. Looking through my canon of work I always have felt passionately about the female perspective. Young women are really important to me and giving them a reflection of themselves that is positive is something I’ve spent my whole career hopefully doing because it really matters to me. I want to continue that messaging, but there is a part of me that wants to speak to larger themes that transcend gender. As I’m writing for my next record, I want to go where the energy flows and don’t want anything to limit it.
So when will we hear this new music? Last month, the Washington Post reported that Sara would begin recording after the Tonys. She co-hosted the awards on June 10th. It seems that Sara is currently in the early stages of recording. Though she promised an album in 2018, we’ll have to wait and see how it works out. She told Billboard:
I’m writing currently and it’s kind of one of those things where you want to press the pedal to the metal, and you don’t know where the car is going to go. I have a handful of songs that I’m proud of but still need some work, and then of course there’s the recording process. But I’m hopeful.
Read the full interview at Billboard.
Sara’s last regular album, The Blessed Unrest, came out in July 2013. Though it’s been half a decade already, Sara has certainly kept busy with other projects. Indeed, the last five years since then have been a whirlwind of activity. It started with a musical called Waitress, for which Sara composed all the songs. It debuted in Boston in summer 2015. That November, a selection of those new songs appeared on Sara’s themed album, What’s Insides: Songs From Waitress. That fall Sara also released a book, Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) In Song.
Things didn’t slow down there. In 2016, Waitress went to Broadway; in 2017 – and again earlier this year – Sara took on the lead role of Jenna. She also played Mary Magdalene in NBC’s adaption of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, composed a song for the SpongeBob Square Pants musical, wrote a song called “Seriously” in light of the 2016 presidential election, and released “If I Dare,” a song she composed for the 2017 film, Battle Of The Sexes. She hosted the Tonys this month, is composing music for a new dramedy series called Little Voice (a reference to her major label debut?), and just received a prestigious award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame. All things considered, Sara Bareilles is hard woman to keep up with!
We’re glad to know what themes Sara will touch on in her new music. It may sound broken, but it will have heart, too. It will be exciting to finally get a new Sara Bareilles album – hopefully later this year! Catch up on all we know about it so far, and keep checking back here for all the latest Sara Bareilles music news.
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