Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles' 'Love Song' 'Basically Wrote Itself' -- After She Struggled For Years

10 Mar 2008 03:41:00 EDT

A Rhapsody commercial shot her to fame, but the singer doesn't feel like her success came too fast.
By Gil Kaufman

Sara Bareilles
Photo: MTV News

Sara Bareilles is an overnight sensation. It's just that, in her world, that night took about six years to happen.

The 28-year-old Eureka, California, singer's piano ballad "Love Song" has become a radio staple after selling more than 1 million downloads thanks to a widely seen Rhapsody commercial. But nine months after her major-label debut, Little Voice, was released, Bareilles said it hardly feels like things are happening too fast.

"I don't feel that at all," she said. "I was very surprised when we were on 'TRL' at all, but the whole time I was wondering, 'What am I doing here? This is crazy.' It happened relatively quickly, but we've been doing this for such a long time. It's been six years in the making, so I'm really glad we're at a point where people are connecting with the music on a greater scale."

Now drawing comparisons to everyone from Sheryl Crow to Fiona Apple, the Broadway musical fanatic got bitten by the singing bug while performing in community and high school productions of "Little Shop of Horrors." After graduating college she spent many nights singing at open mics while waitressing on the side. Her hard work paid off with an Epic Records deal in 2005. She spent most of the next year writing and working on the songs that would make up Little Voice, which took almost another year to finish recording with producer Eric Rosse (Tori Amos).

Though Bareilles was initially reluctant to work with Rosse, their close studio relationship helped craft the emotionally charged songs on the album. "He was supposed to be a potential co-writer, and I had been asked to at least entertain the idea of doing some co-writing for the album, and I told them ahead of time that I absolutely hate co-writers, but I would try," said Bareilles. "And then I met Eric, and he was really soft-spoken, and he wasn't overbearing and he wasn't trying to coerce my ideas in any way, and we didn't end up co-writing together, but it became this very comfortable relationship where I felt like we could actually dive into this music, and it turned into a producer-artist relationship."

While some have pegged the frustration in the lyrics to "Love Song" as a veiled reference to the singer's struggle to deliver what she thought her label wanted ("I'm not gonna write you a love song/ 'Cause you asked for it/ 'Cause you need one, you see"), Bareilles said the real explanation is a bit more complicated.

"They had encouraged me to keep writing, and I just wasn't having any luck, and I was turning in the beginnings of ideas and snippets of moments of a song, and I was just getting a really sort of blasé reaction to everything," said the singer, who has had no formal musical training but always had a piano to plink around on at home. "I started to get really insecure about it, and then I got really pissed off at myself for caring what anybody thought. ... I went to a rehearsal space one day. I sat down and wrote something for me. And 'Love Song' basically wrote itself. It's totally honest, and I'm very lucky the label liked it as well."

Though she's just now going through the tumultuous ups and downs of being a star, Bareilles said she had some sense of what was in store for her after watching her pals in Maroon 5 go through it. She met the band when she was in college and they were still playing house parties under the name Kara's Flowers.

"We always saw big things for them, and I'm not surprised at all that they are the smash sensation that they are," she said.

Last year, while opening for "the boys," as she calls Maroon 5, the band gave newbie Bareilles a proper hazing during a show in Philadelphia. "I was at the very end of 'Love Song,' and I see something in my peripheral vision," she recalled. "I thought it was something falling from the rafters. ... The whole crowd started screaming, and three of the boys ran onstage in their underwear. I stopped playing and cringed down. I ended the song halfway through and was mortified for the entire set."

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Janet Jackson Teaches Jack Johnson Discipline, Claims Sixth #1 Debut

5 Mar 2008 12:58:00 EST

Erykah Badu, Webbie also crack Billboard's top 10.
By Chris Harris

Janet Jackson's Discipline
Photo: Island Def Jam

How's this for a wipeout? After three weeks of domination, surfer-turned-rocker Jack Johnson's reign as the nation's top-selling artist has come to an end — and we have pop icon Janet Jackson to thank.

Jackson's latest studio offering, Discipline, will top next week's Billboard albums sales chart, having generated week-one scans of more than 181,000, dethroning Johnson's Sleep Through the Static and dropping the LP to the chart's #3 position; Johnson's disc sold just over 91,500 copies during its fourth week of commercial availability. With its strong sales, Discipline becomes Jackson's sixth career chart-topper: Her 1986 album Control also entered the top 200 at #1, as did 1989's Rhythm Nation 1814, 1993's Janet., 1997's The Velvet Rope, and 2001's All for You. (Jackson's last two releases, 2004's Damita Jo and 2006's 20 Y.O. both opened at #2.)

But Miss Jackson's new one isn't the only new release to enter in the top 10. Right behind her at #2 is the latest from Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), the first half of Badu's double-album set, which sold close to 123,900 units. Believe it or not, Badu has never seen one of her albums bow at #1; 1997's Baduizm and 2003's Worldwide Underground opened at #2 and #3, respectively.

Joining Jackson and Badu in the top 10 is rapper Webbie's Savage Life 2, which enters at #4 after selling 72,000 copies. The rest of the top 10 is teeming with the usual suspects, as well as a couple of surprises. Falling three spots to #5 on next week's chart is Alicia Keys' As I Am, which sold 57,300 copies. Coming in at #6 is "Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus," with sales reported at 54,500, and following at #7, with more than 46,700 scans, it's the soundtrack to "Once," which features the Oscar-winning number "Falling Slowly." The disc experienced a 143 percent spike in sales.

The soundtrack to "Juno" follows at #8 with 42,000 sold, and at #9, it's breakout artist Sara Bareilles' Little Voice, which sold another 37,800 units. This week, MTV News spoke with Bareilles — who's wrapping up a tour with James Blunt — about her recent rash of seemingly instant success.

"I was very surprised when we were on 'TRL' at all, but the whole time I was thinking, 'What am I doing here? This is crazy,' " she said. "It happened relatively quickly, but we've been at it a long time. This has been six years in the making, and I'm glad we're at a point where people are connecting to the music on a greater scale."

Finally, coming in at #10, it's Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, which sold another 37,500 copies, following her recent Grammy wins.

Elsewhere on the chart, rapper Shawty Lo's Units in the City opens at #13, having sold 31,000 during its first week in stores. The record was one of 20 to debut on next week's top 200. The Afters' Never Going Back to OK bows at #41 with 16,000 scans, while Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree debuts at #48, selling 14,900. Pillar's For the Love of the Game enters at #71 with 10,900 sold, while Cheri Dennis' In and Out of Love follows at #74 with 10,700-plus scanned. Tift Merritt's Another Country claims the #156 spot with 5,000 sold, and Pete Rock's NY's Finest checks in at #193 with 3,800. Finally, selling 3,700 units, it's Beach House's Devotion, which just makes the cut at #195.