Wednesday 29 January 2014

Voice of the Week: Sara Bareilles

How I found out

I was familiar with Love Song but didn't know until quite recently who the original artist was. Then I came across the music video for Brave and both the song and the singer's presence immediately caught to me.


Commentary

You know how in most albums there are usually just two or three tracks that really stick to your mind? Not so with Sara Bareilles. Each of her songs is memorable in some way, thanks to incredibly creative lyrics and genius use of the piano. Right from her very first album, Careful Confessions, it's very clear that Bareilles knows what sort of music she wants to make (but without getting stuck to repetition) and has a great understanding of how music works as well as a very enjoyable voice. There hasn't been a drop in quality with her next three albums either, rather the opposite. I'm always a little skeptical about artists who describe themselves as "self-taught" because they often end up being more like artists in heavy quotation marks, but you would never guess that Bareilles has no formal training in vocals or piano.

Favourite songs

Brave

Winter Song

Uncharted

Brave is one of my anthems of inspiration right now. The message is very simple, but it's put in an incredibly uplifting form. And I'm going to go on again about the piano backgrounds, but they are simply wonderful in Winter Song and Uncharted. By the way, this is the first time in Voice of the Week that I had difficulties narrowing down my favourites to just three!

I would listen to this music when...

I simply want some really good, original, high-quality music. With some wicked piano on the background.

Random lyric sample

Snow White is doin' dishes again
'Cause what else could you do with seven itty-bitty men?
Sends them to bed and she calls up a friend
Says, will you meet me at midnight?
The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair
Says, would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair
I'll have to find another tower somewhere 
And keep away from the windows
(Fairytale, album Careful Confessions)

Stars ★★★★★

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