Sara Bareilles

Anyone who knows me knows I love Sara Bareilles is one of my favorite singers and the song Gravity speaks to me. So when I saw this book in the library I was like thank you library card! The book is really a bit of a memoir filled with stories of her growing up to what she has learned up to this point in her life and career. It is a collection of eight essays all based around the story behind the song. Once Upon Another Time, Gravity, Love Song, Beautiful Girl, Red, Many the Miles, Brave, show more and She Used to Be Mine.

If those songs weren't already moving enough, you will listen to them with a newfound appreciation and respect after finishing this book. Sara is clearly someone who has learned that facing her fears and moving forward anyways is the true definition of courage. Countless stories she tells are beautiful illustrations of what happens in this sweet place of surrender. That and a genuine gratitude for all she has been given and for the people who have taught her along the way.

What I love most about the book is that it is ultimately a recollection of her finding her own voice. And as she has shared glimpses of that in her music, it has helped others do the same. And isn't that what life is ultimately about? That as we share our truth, we give permission for others to do the same. And that it's never a one way streak. Somehow we end up inspiring each other to dive even deeper into revealing ourselves for who we really are. No doubt she has done just that in the writing of this book.

Her honesty about a whole range of topics from body image to a sound malfunction performing with Taylor Swift are all consistent with the kind of candor that her fans have come to know and love. I had to fight back tears in a restaurant as I finished her book today. The stories she shares from her own life as well as those of some of her fans are a reminder that we are all so uniquely different, yet also so much the same.

Many thanks to you, Sara, for continuing to share your voice. In your greatest moments of self-doubt to your highest moments of exhilaration, may you receive back the Love that you continue to pour out to this world. show less

When I was a little younger, Sara Bareilles’s music became a bit of a refuge for me – she spoke the words I needed to say, but couldn’t. Her song “King of Anything” is still one of my favorites. Songs from her Broadway musical Waitress have kept me afloat in my darkest moments. Her memoir Sounds Like Me has been on my TBR for a few years, because I really wanted to know more about the lady behind the music that I loved so much.

Right from the get-go, you can tell that writing this show more book was a struggle for Sara. She admits it – how she put it off, tried to back out of it, but is grateful people kept pushing her forward. The whole thing sits a bit awkwardly, like a conversation with someone you haven’t seen in a long time and trying to fill the emptiness with stories from the past. It is made up of stories and anecdotes from both Sara and others. Lyrics to a few of her songs are woven within essays.

For much of the book, Sara focuses on her experience in school being body shamed, and how that inspired her work. The rest of the book chooses stories around her most successful songs – “Gravity”, “Love Song”, and “Brave”. She also speaks in one section a little bit about writing for Waitress. All the sections are a little bit rambling and leave room for more details, like the edges of a story but not the heart of it. This actually surprised me – I find Sara’s music so full of heart, I really thought her book would feel the same.

This isn’t to say that she didn’t try, because it is clear she did. This is not her medium.

Outside of the actual crafting of the book, I was a bit disappointed. There is nothing more rewarding in reading a memoir than finding a person who inspires you (My Life on the Road) or someone you unexpectedly relate to (The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo). While others will be invigorated and inspired by Sara’s story, I was not. To me, Sara is a person with talent who worked hard, surrounded herself with supportive people, and makes music. I still love her music, but I feel nothing special towards her as a person. I’m happy she became a musician and I am grateful for the songs she has written that are close to my heart.

Overall, I really could take or leave this book. I think that big fans of Sara’s will enjoy it, but as far as memoirs go, there’s nothing about it that makes her story jump off the page. show less

I fell in love with Sara’s songs with her album Little Voice. Over the years she’s made me laugh and cry with more recordings, and this book is no exception. Please opt to read this in audio if you can. Learning more about this wonderful human is gift enough, but having her read the story felt more like catching up with an old friend. I binged this in a single session and I loved every second.

I loved this, it was fantastic and am so happy a friend recommended it to me. Bareilles has been talented for a lot of her life and it's no surprise that a Grammy winning artist has such a good voice for storytelling. I really liked a section in the middle where she wrote notes to past Sara and the letters from important people in her life. Very uplifiting.