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Sara Bareilles Says Hit 'Gravity' Came From High‑School Heartbreak

She describes writing the song as a cathartic, channel‑like act that helped forge a lasting emotional bond with listeners during promotion of her new album Good Grief.

Overview

  • Bareilles told the Zach Sang Show that she wrote 'Gravity' as a teenager after a breakup with a high‑school boyfriend and that she was about 18 when she penned the song.
  • She said songwriting felt like a form of therapy, calling music a receptacle for the 'ache' she could not otherwise place.
  • Bareilles described herself as a 'vessel' for music, saying songs come through her rather than belonging to her personally.
  • She acknowledged that sharing such a personal song was 'kind of scary' but that listener responses provided strong affirmation and deepened the song’s resonance.
  • The remarks have surfaced while she promotes her album Good Grief and come against a long career that includes the 2004 release of 'Gravity' on Careful Confessions, its 2009 reissue on Little Voice, Broadway work and her marriage to actor Joe Tippett.