Some Raves About "Brave"

Sara Bareilles, from the moment "Love Song" blew down doors in 2007, has struck me as a performer who doesn't pull punches with her thinking. I give her props for "Love Song" because the lyrics essentially were a warning to her record label that she wasn't going to write them a love song because they needed some hit record and that was a sure fire way to get one. "King of Anything" should be required listening for any man who thinks a bit too highly of himself. Her self-esteem reaffirming style is back with "Brave", a track lifted from the forthcoming album "The Blessed Unrest". I like to think of it as a workout for the soul instead of the abs, glutes, and delts. As was the case with "Love Song" piano of a big city cosmopolitan nature looms pretty large. It's the synthesized drums that shower this effort with some bouncy mirth. Here, Sara implores us to do what seems forbidden in these treacherous times...just be brave enough to speak your mind. She has a type of voice that is determined to break down any psychological barriers that have been erected. Make no mistake in a country full of big city unsteadiness, this is the track that at least taps you on the shoulder and reminds you that yes, bravery is part of your emotional tool box. The vid clip shows Sara in all her breeziness. At the end a pair of mall patrons wonder what it is that's been going on. One of them goes so far as to hint that maybe he took the wrong pills. That's an understandable conclusion. Spontaneous giddiness in the name of loosening inhibitions isn't commonplace these days. Sara wraps her good intentions around all who pass by. You want to believe you're an ordinary person capable of the extraordinary as opposed to being stuck in, as Sara sharply puts it, "the cage where you live". This is one appetizingly delivered spoon full of sugar. It bodes well for "The Blessed Unrest". Sara is one performer unafraid to embrace life and all the hairpin turns that come with it. Her voice melds sweet with spellbinding and the resulting creation is captivating in the way hearing small children sing for a church choir might be. No sunblock required for these sun rays. Just an appreciation for a young woman's artistry with the power to make the weakest among us feel ten feet tall.