CWW: Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles is a self taught singer-songwriter and pianist. She has sold over 1 million records and over 4 million singles in the USA alone and she has been nominated for a Grammy award 3 times but unfortunately has not has not won one...yet! In high school Sara Bareilles was involved in her school's production of Little Shop of Horrors where she played Audry and she continued doing theater throughout her community. She attended UCLA for college and she participated in the UCLA Spring Sing wining the competition twice. Sara Bareilles graduated college in 2002 and then she went off to perform in local bars and clubs before getting signed to the Sony music label. Her sound is described as "slightly edgy, stompy piano-based pop rock" that incorporates jazz and soul, finding inspiration from singers such as Etta James and Sam Cooke. She is often praised for her songwriting abilities, with critics stating she "conveys vulnerability and wisdom in lyrics that speak honestly about relationships from a woman's point of view", and that her "writing voice is uniquely her own." Sara Bareilles' most famous song to date has been "Love Song" which has a very interesting story behind it. When first listening to the lyrics of "Love Song" most people would believe that it's a song she wrote for a boy but in fact this song was written to the manager of her label that she was signed to. He felt as if her album needed a typical bubble gum pop love song in order to sell well and Sara Bareilles did not agree and she did not want to feel like she was being told what she had to write about. So she wrote "Love Song" as her answer to his demand and it paid off because It's been her most successful hit single.  You can see her frustrations in the lyrics with lines like:
"Blank stares at blank pages 
No easy way to say this 
You mean well But you make this hard on me 
I'm not gonna write you a love song 'Cause you ask for it 'Cause you need one, you see 
I'm not gonna write you a love song 'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this 
If you're on your way 
I'm not gonna write you to stay 
All you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better reason 
To write you a love song today, today" 

 And

"Convinced me to please you 
Made me think that I need this too 
I'm trying to let you hear me as I am"

Sara Bareilles has written many other songs where she speaks out about not letting what she wants to say be stifled by people in her life personally and career wise, such as "King of Anything" and "Sweet as Whole".