Sara Bareilles (pronounced: bar-rell-is) has anything but a little voice. The 25-year-old's major-label debut Little Voice is a misnomer from the time you push play. In a similar mold as A Fine Frenzy from yesterday, but Ms. Bareilles brings her voice full of passion and verve from the very beginning. While she was born and raised in Eureka, CA (about 100 miles south of the CA-OR border) she moved to Los Angeles when she began attending UCLA's School of Communications. While in school she co-produced her first demo, and began playing open-mics then shows in the L.A. area. She eventually signed to Epic Records in 2005 and began working with producer Eric Rosse to make her debut album. While most the songs were already on her self-produced album, they were perfected and orchestrated professionally with Rosse.
Most people will immediately compare Ms. Bareilles to Fiona Apple or Norah Jones and she's okay with these comparisons: "That's fine. I love Norah's subtlety and Fiona's fierce lyrical prowess." Her vocal range is truly dynamic and she uses this to her advantage to emote quite poignantly. This is truly amazing considering she's had no formal training. Although she is easily comparable to the vast number of female artists with pianos she manages to bring something to the musical table that stands out from the crowd. While some songs lend themselves to Top-40, there is a precocious nature about Ms. Bareillis that makes her seem more approachable. She hasn't been polished and packaged for stardom like a Christina Aguilera or Michelle Branch or Vanessa Carlton...yet. Songwriting and singing seemingly come very easy to Ms. Bareilles. This fact is one of her greatest strengths. She also knows a bit about writing songs about love; most of the album deals with the subject. Thankfully she has enough unique takes on the subject to make each track sound fresh. The song below was an iTunes Store "Single of the Week" a while back, but has since taken off. In fact, she is opening 10 shows for Maroon 5 with the highlight surely to be a performance at Madison Square Garden on October 10th. At which point she'll then join Paolo Nutini and open 8 of his shows. So, Ms. Bareillis is already in some good company that will make her more of a household name.
I am a young freelance writer living in Reston, VA. I enjoy golf, singing while driving, live music, and figuring out creative ways to use my BAs in English Lit. and Music from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. I have pretty eclectic taste in music, and will always give something a sincere listen before coming to an opinion. If you are a musician and would like your work reviewed here, feel free to send me an email.
MP3s are for sampling purposes only. Please, please, please buy the album if you like what you hear. If you have a gripe about the ownership of a track, please contact me directly and I will be more than happy to take it down ASAP.
Sara Bareilles (pronounced: bar-rell-is) has anything but a little voice. The 25-year-old's major-label debut Little Voice is a misnomer from the time you push play. In a similar mold as A Fine Frenzy from yesterday, but Ms. Bareilles brings her voice full of passion and verve from the very beginning. While she was born and raised in Eureka, CA (about 100 miles south of the CA-OR border) she moved to Los Angeles when she began attending UCLA's School of Communications. While in school she co-produced her first demo, and began playing open-mics then shows in the L.A. area. She eventually signed to Epic Records in 2005 and began working with producer Eric Rosse to make her debut album. While most the songs were already on her self-produced album, they were perfected and orchestrated professionally with Rosse.
Most people will immediately compare Ms. Bareilles to Fiona Apple or Norah Jones and she's okay with these comparisons: "That's fine. I love Norah's subtlety and Fiona's fierce lyrical prowess." Her vocal range is truly dynamic and she uses this to her advantage to emote quite poignantly. This is truly amazing considering she's had no formal training. Although she is easily comparable to the vast number of female artists with pianos she manages to bring something to the musical table that stands out from the crowd. While some songs lend themselves to Top-40, there is a precocious nature about Ms. Bareillis that makes her seem more approachable. She hasn't been polished and packaged for stardom like a Christina Aguilera or Michelle Branch or Vanessa Carlton...yet. Songwriting and singing seemingly come very easy to Ms. Bareilles. This fact is one of her greatest strengths. She also knows a bit about writing songs about love; most of the album deals with the subject. Thankfully she has enough unique takes on the subject to make each track sound fresh. The song below was an iTunes Store "Single of the Week" a while back, but has since taken off. In fact, she is opening 10 shows for Maroon 5 with the highlight surely to be a performance at Madison Square Garden on October 10th. At which point she'll then join Paolo Nutini and open 8 of his shows. So, Ms. Bareillis is already in some good company that will make her more of a household name.
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1 comment:
Love her... she is becoming a bigger name recently. I heard "Love Song" on an ABC promo for "Men in Trees" I believe.
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