Sara Bareilles Sings About Loss — and It’s Our Gain — in the Beautifully Bittersweet ‘Good Grief’: Album Review
Sara Bareilles’s first studio album in seven years, ‘Good Grief’, explores bereavement, infertility, bodily autonomy and wider disillusionment with American life. The review argues that, despite its heavy themes, the record is often uplifting and musically varied, using Bareilles’s expressive voice to balance mourning with celebration and reflection.
Several early tracks address the death from cancer of Bareilles’s longtime friend and former tour manager Chad Joseph, including ‘Just Kids’ and the Aaron Dessner-produced ‘Still Crying’. Elsewhere, ‘Ladies in Line’ deals with IVF difficulties, while ‘Hands Off My Body’ addresses concerns about contemporary US social and political issues; songs described in the review range from waltz-like pop to ominous percussion-led material.
- ‘Good Grief’ turns personal and political loss into buoyant, varied pop.
- Early songs mourn Bareilles’s late friend Chad Joseph.
- The album also addresses IVF and female autonomy.
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Sara Bareilles is an American singer-songwriter known for piano-led pop and songs such as “Love Song”. Good Grief is her first studio album in seven years, and its songs draw on personal loss as well as questions about bodies, family and life in the United States.
Several tracks reflect on the death of her longtime friend and former tour manager Chad Joseph, who died of cancer. Others touch on difficulties with IVF and concerns about bodily autonomy, while the music ranges from gentle, waltz-like pop to darker, percussion-led arrangements.