Pop & Hiss

The L.A. Times music blog

Category: Sara Bareilles

In advance of her Orpheum show, Sara Bareilles performs 'King of Anything' for The Times [video]

Sara Bareilles was anxious about the release of "Kaleidoscope Heart" -- and perhaps rightly so. The album, her second with a major label, had a lot to live up to: Her last record, 2007's "Little Voice," went platinum, and its hit single, "Love Song," earned two Grammy nominations.

But the singer-songwriter's fears about "one-upping" herself were quickly dispelled earlier this month, when her new record shot to the top spot on Billboard's Top 200 in its first week of release. 

"I really just reflected on how amazing the fans were," Bareilles said of how she celebrated the accomplishment. "...That was them showing up in droves and buying the album and telling friends and friends buying the album. I'm just incredibly grateful and shocked."

Pop & Hiss sat down with Bareilles in early September near her home in Venice, where she opened up about her desire to transcend her reputation as "the 'Love Song' girl." Last week, we stopped by her rehearsal space in Burbank, where she and her all-male band were practicing before heading out on the road to kick off her fall headlining tour in Idaho. On Tuesday, she'll play a sold out show at the Orpheum Theatre downtown.

The first single off her latest record, "King of Anything," follows in the same vein as "Love Song" -- they were both written as what she calls "pep talk songs" that helped her stay true to herself when she was being judged. ("Love Song" is about the disdain she felt toward record label executives who insisted she deliver a commercial radio single; "King of Anything" is about the disdain she felt toward those who disliked some of the songs off her new album.)

"My songs are very much diary entries for me," she said. "And so a lot of times it's almost exactly what you read in the pages of my real journal. And it's me trying to encourage myself to be positive, to be confident, to be brave. I feel like if I'm feeling it, somebody else must be feeling it in the world."

Check out a performance of "King of Anything" below:

-- Amy Kaufman

Twitter.com/AmyKinLA

RECENT AND RELATED:

Sara Bareilles Finds Her Focus — Finally

Album Review: Sara Bareilles, 'Kaleidoscope Heart'




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