![]() ![]() Wrestle with our families, with our own thoughts, even with God. There’s a time where we do in fact need to sit in our worry and troubles, and wrestle with it a little. And that’s ok, that at times we can’t just walk through the struggles, but rather only waddle. No really, songs mean something to people, and Sara’s music, at least songs in Amidst The Chaos, talks of the struggle, and humans trying to waddle through it. We have songs (or shall I say just big beats) in the clubs for that. For songs weren’t really meant to just make us feel good. Sara’s music has heart and soul, and emotion and everything you need to evoke responses from people, rather than just nodding your head and saying that ‘it’s a good song’, and then carrying on your merry way. And as we look through the songs, we can see a few standouts- ‘Armour’ is a female empowerment song that was written in response to what can be seen and viewed of what is happening to women at the moment, while ‘Fire’ is a song of lament of the end of a relationship and using the metaphors of fire and cold as to symbolise the beginning (and middle) of a relationship as opposed to the end. ‘Poetry By Dead Men’ and ‘Saint Honesty’ also solidify Amidst The Chaos lyrically as Sara continues to tread the line between relevant reflective pop and radio friendly material that can relate to the everyday person that only listens to radio- the former about hoping against hope that the person you are longing to be with returns their affections, so that you are not stuck with all the ‘poetry by dead men’, while the latter is a reminder for each of us to hold dear and value honesty- be it calming or ugly, honesty is what will create authenticity and respect amongst people who may have differing views or opinion. With 10 (out of the 12 songs on Amidst the Chaos) present here on this live 21-track project, we see Sara’s latest studio album brought to life- her latest studio album is one full of rejuvenation and a sense of purpose and intentionality as Sara herself admits that in the process of completing this album, it’s been a lot freer in exploring the production side of things, than in albums gone past. ![]() Let me just say from the outset that this is not really a review- just on the basis that a lot of this album is basically Amidst The Chaos done live, and since I did review that album way back in late 2019, I figured I’d let that review speak for itself in terms of not only my own views for that studio album, but also views that extend to this live project as well. As Sara’s music over the years has been whimsically joyful as it’s been heartfelt and confronting her new album is as needed in a society missing live shows, as it’s needed to remind us that as unfiltered as this project is (when she’s talking between the songs, she uses a few choice words for effect), Sara’s honesty in live settings is what draws people to her raw and real songs, especially in an industry world complete with fakeness and hypocrisy. ![]() An artist that is relatively underrated in a musical game that seemingly favours pop artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, The Weeknd, Post Malone and Drake (to name a few), Sara’s music has been such a powerful, compelling joy since I wrote a blog about her impact and influence on music way back in 2019. ![]() So what has been the remedy during this time, were live shows (if people are in a state/province/country where live events can go ahead safely) are few and far between? Album releases of live projects- of live events artists were undertaking just prior to the world shut down- TobyMac released his ‘new’ album Live From Denver not too long ago, with the songs from his live tour back in early 2020, and now here we are with Sara Bareilles (famous right now for her musical Waitress and standout songs like ‘Brave’, ‘Unguarded’, ‘Love Song’ and ‘I Choose You’) and her unveiling of Amidst The Chaos: Live From the Hollywood Bowl. Alas, here we are, and I dunno if this virus is going to go away fully in the near future. 18 months ago, I don’t think anyone would’ve perceived there to be a pandemic- we in NSW were still battling bushfires in January 2020, I don’t think as a state and as a nation of Australia, we were thinking about COVID-19 at all. We’re in July 2021, and guess what? We’re still battling COVID-19, we’re still social distancing, here in NSW we’re in lockdown (and I dunno when that’s going to end), and through it all, music has been one of the constants for people around the world as we journey through this troubling time, seeing what has been unfolding in places around the world, as being something so unprecedented that quite possibly the time this has happened before, was the Spanish flu of 1918. Sara Bareilles – Amidst the Chaos: Live from the Hollywood Bowl ( Amazon mp3/ iTunes) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |