Could a new LGBTQ+ anthem be coming from songstress Sara Bareilles? Maybe.
“Something’s coming soon. Something’s coming soon. Something that I made. Something just for you.” Bareilles, 46, sing songs in a Facebook post captioned “it’s been a while …” posted Friday, May 29.
The post prompts fans to go to her website to sign up for more details. Being a fan, I naturally jumped at the opportunity. After someone enters their name and email (I decided to forego the option to get text notifications), the site redirects to another video.
“Hi everybody,” Bareilles says. “Something’s coming soon. This is just a—This is your boilerplate teaser video. I’m finally, after many years, making art again. Music specifically. Heard of it? Making music. Making records. Taking pictures about it. Making videos. Going on tour. All kinds of things are happening, and something BIG is coming soon. One of the things is big, and it’s gonna—I’m getting off the point, but you get it. Stay tuned.”
Bareilles posted a Facebook video late on the afternoon of June 1 announcing that her new song titled “Home” will be released Wednesday, June 3 at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
Bareilles entered the music scene in 2007 with what would technically actually be her sophomore album—you will get absolutely zero Careful Confessions erasure from me—titled Little Voice. Radio stations loved her early songs “Love Song” and “Bottle It Up.” Surprisingly, though, what was meant to be the titular song got scrapped. Record executives wanted nothing of it.
Bareilles recounts in her 2015 memoir Sounds Like Me: My Life (So Far) in Song a meeting that left her in tears. The meeting was a session with a very successful songwriter—whom she very smartly refuses to name except to clarify that “No, he was not Prince.” He sauntered into the room and provided a young, inexperienced Bareilles with a list of very early 2000’s-style song titles. Before she even read the entire list of provided song titles, he decided that because she was young, she should write about “fun.” Before she knew it, he strode out of the room to record his brilliant new song.
“It didn’t even matter that I was in the room,” Bareilles writes. “He hadn’t taken the time to listen to a single song I had written. He wasn’t concerned with who I was as a writer or what my goals were in moving forward. He made me feel invisible.”
Thus, “Love Story” was born, and “Little Voice” was relegated to the vault.
Bareilles continued to make big strides, releasing Kaleidoscope Heart in 2010 and the EP Once Upon Another Time in 2012. Then she became famous on a whole other level in 2013 when she released The Blessed Unrest, the album that features the ultimate coming out song, “Brave.”
In the song, Bareilles sings, “Let your words be anything but empty. Why don’t you tell the truth.” Co-written by Bleachers lead vocalist Jack Antonoff, “Brave” was inspired by a close friend of Bareilles who was struggling to come out.
In 2015, not only did Bareilles release her memoir but also the music from a little Tony-nominated musical titled Waitress. Maybe you’ve heard of it—based on the 2007 film starring Kerri Russell. The eleven o’clock number “She Used to Be Mine” took off as the ultimate song about mourning the loss of your former self and coming to terms with how things are now to both theater lovers and non-theater lovers alike. Waitress was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2016, ultimately losing out to Hamilton. A 10th anniversary tour is coming to Denver’s Buell Theatre November 27 through November 29. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, June 23.
In 2020, Apple TV released a nine-episode series titled Little Voice about an aspiring songwriter named Bess (Brittany O’ Grady) and her life in New York, created by Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson. Bareilles put pen to paper once again, writing original songs for the series and eventually recording an album featuring all of them including the little song that could, “Little Voice.” This song served as the series theme song, and it encourages the listener to be their authentic self.
“I will be loud I’m coming out to tell you words are not enough,” Bareilles sings. “I will be loud I’m coming out to tell you noise is not enough.”
Aside from the 2019 album Amidst the Chaos: Live from The Hollywood Bowl and her starring role in Peacock and Netflix’s Girls 5 Eva, things have been very quiet for fans lately.
We know that she adopted a mini sheepadoodle named Louie, got engaged to actor Joe Tippett (Alaska Daily, The Morning Show), and released a song with Brandi Carlile titled “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet.”
We also know that she’s been collaborating with Waitress director Diane Paulus on a musical adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s 2013 bestselling novel, The Interestings. Bareilles performed one of the songs, titled “Enough,” at a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
Only Bareilles knows what the new album will sound like at this point, but the fans are ready for it and more than eager to “stay tuned” for what will be coming next.
Photo Courtesy of social media
