Sara Bareilles with Raining Jane December 16, 2010

Sara's Bio

Hi.
It’s me, Sara. As I’ve said before, I don’t do those fancy bios. So sue me.

Kaleidoscope Heart is my new album, and I’m beyond proud of this collection of songs, in no small part due to the fact it was like pulling teeth to write them.
We spent the better part of three years touring and supporting my first record, Little Voice, and by the end of that process I was completely burnt out. Don’t get me wrong, it was an unbelievable ride that far surpassed my expectations in the best way. We had some unforgettable high points as well as some very humbling low ones, and like any good rollercoaster, it’s exhilarating but you still feel a little bit sick at the end and are happy to have your feet on the ground again.

I thought that I would use our much-needed time off to just pour myself into writing, but I actually found that I wanted nothing to do with music for a little while. I preferred drinking copious amounts of coffee, going to yoga, and looking for cute throw pillows at Target. I love throw pillows.
As the time passed, I slowly started writing again, and truly amazed myself with just how horrible the songs were. And then the fear set in.
I think I fell victim to what a lot of artists go through with a second record: the expectations, the pressure, the anxiety of what’s to come, the idea that maybe I’ve already written my best work…

Weeks before I was supposed to start recording, I was in full-scale panic-attack mode, feeling pressure to start the ball rolling again, but not having material I cared about. I only had about 4 new songs that I really loved, and the rest were truly embarrassing. Thankfully, over a margarita, my good friend Matt said something profound and poetic that made it all come clear:
He said, “You can’t polish a turd. A bad song is a bad song. Ask for more time.”
And so I did.

My manager suggested only recording the 4 songs I loved and I agreed. Thank God he did, because the floodgates opened after a taste of what being in the studio would look and feel like. It was easy, and exciting, and infinitely inspiring. I wrote the rest of the record in about a month, largely based around the song “Uncharted” that still feels like the centerpiece to me. My fear of what was to come was keeping me from doing anything. And finally, I cared about what I was saying.
As homage to the song that freed me, I took the title of the record from its lyrics.

My counterpart in the studio, Neal Avron, is one of my Buddhas in this world. He’s one of the most patient, musical, kind, and dedicated people I’ve ever met. We were an odd pairing for sure, as he’s best known for his rock records (Fall Out Boy, Say Anything), and I do covers of songs from Dumbo and love the Golden Girls. But it was exciting and felt completely right. We spent about 6 months making this record, and the record that came from it is exactly what I wanted. With Neal’s help, I took risks, and pushed myself both as a player and vocally, and I followed my gut wholeheartedly for the very first time. And I can’t wait to share it.

I can’t wait to see these songs come to life.

I can’t wait to reconnect with fans from the stage. I can’t wait to see how many times the word “Kaleidoscope” gets misspelled.

I can’t wait to get on the ride again.

Previous BIO

My Bio
By: Me

So I’m supposed to tell you about myself and we’ve tried to write something fancy, and I’m just not that fancy, so here I go. The non-fancy me.

I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember. Some of them make me happy and some of them are shit, but all of them come because I can’t imagine what else to do with my head and the things that are in it besides write songs. Songs and some pretty bad poetry. But mostly just songs.

LITTLE VOICE is my first major label album. I signed with Epic Records on tax day 2005, and I spent the better part of the next year writing and developing the material for the album that is set to be released on July 3rd. Songwriting is the most sacred thing in my life. It’s how I process my world. For now, it’s usually me and my piano (that I rent because I don’t have one), my lousy grammar, and some emotion that makes me feel like I’m bursting at the seams.

And it’s the best feeling in the world.

We started recording in February of 2006 and it took about a year to get to a place where we felt like it was finished. My producer, Eric Rosse, and I spent countless hours deliberating, fighting, and seeking compromise on what would make this music the best it could be. I’m not proud to say it, but I feel like in many ways I walked in with my dukes up. In the end, we both walked away with some gnarly battle scars, and an album that we’re both pretty damn proud of. It represents one of the most tumultuous years of my life that thankfully made me a stronger, better artist. I’m incredibly grateful for that.

LITTLE VOICE is a collection of songs that pretty much mean the world to me. They chronicle my life, my relationships, my basket-case-ness, and my utter devotion to trying to write honest stuff down and share it. That’s where the title comes from. This record was really about me learning to trust my own instincts, and more importantly, recognize how desperately I needed to learn to listen to myself, however inexperienced and naïve I may be. It sounds cliché, but that little voice is sometimes the only voice that’s speaking the truth. I think that’s pretty fucking cool.

“What kind of music is it?”

I write mostly on piano and I’m a girl, so lots of people say it’s Norah Jones, or Fiona Apple. That’s fine. I love Norah’s subtlety and Fiona’s fierce lyrical prowess. But I also have an affinity for the playful and intelligent-pop of people like Elton John and Ben Folds. And although I don’t necessarily write like them, Radiohead, the Police and Bjork changed my musical consciousness. Ben Gibbard writes better lyrics than I can even imagine up. Etta James and Sam Cooke make me wish I lived 50 years ago. Counting Crows recorded an album that I consider to be perfect, and Bob Marley created music that makes me want to be a better human being.

So there’s all that. And it’s all in there. In me. Somewhere. So do what you will with that information, I know it’s vague, but it’s the best I can do.

“Where are you from and how’d you end up here?”

I grew up in Eureka, CA. Since hardly anyone knows where that is, I’ll tell you. It’s pretty much as north as you can go up the coast of California before you stop paying sales tax. (Oregon, baby.) I lived on several acres of Redwood forest, and spent most of my time in the woods developing a delightfully overactive imagination that I’m pretty proud to say I’ve managed to salvage. I sang in high school choirs and did community musical theatre and played right field softball and rode horses and had my heart broken a few times. I was borderline normal. I was incredibly lucky.

I moved to LA to go to UCLA, and realized the world was bigger than my hometown. Way, way bigger, come to find out. In school I studied Communications, but everywhere else I secretly studied the world around me. I felt stupid and wonderful and small and liberated and exhilarated and I started feeling the need to write it all down. So I did. And then I wanted to start singing those things. I played open mics and small shows that started becoming bigger shows and actually started calling myself a musician. I met my band/road mates and finally started sharing music. Because of them, I also rediscovered what “family” means. I met my manager, Jordan Feldstein, who has made tiny opportunities blossom into bigger ones, and now I’m not a waitress anymore. I fell on my ass more than once but figured that I’d rather do this than anything, so what the hell?

And here we are.

“Why’d you write such a long bio?”

I realize this is incredibly self-indulgent, but it all feels important to me, and I’m a terrible editor. So, thanks for coming. Thanks for listening. Thanks for ignoring my potty mouth, and thanks for giving a shit about this music. I really really truly appreciate it.

Love and peace,
S

Official Website: http://thewarfieldtheatre.com/eventdetail.php?id=29605