Sara Bareilles’ recent single “Brave,” which the singer/songwriter co-wrote with fun.’s Jack Antonoff for her new album “The Blessed Unrest,” drew notable inspiration from real-life events. Bareilles, who met Antonoff through Tegan & Sara’s Sara Quin, explains that she was urged to pen the song as an ode to “a dear friend who was having trouble coming out.” With lyrics like “You can be the outcast/Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love/Or you can start speaking up,” the song certainly serves to urge confidence for an often difficult decision. The single, however, is meant to encompass a far broader experience.
“I love that the song ended up being broad-themed, that it could apply to a lot of things to a lot of people,” Bareilles told Billboard.com recently. “I don’t think ‘Brave’ has to just apply to this one cause.”
The track, which debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late April, has notably inspired the LGBT community on a broad scale. Bareilles will even co-host an event in New York with NBA star Jason Collins to support the LGBT Leadership Council with Michelle Obama, and “Brave” has been called a “gay anthem” by numerous media outlets. “I will always internalize ‘Brave’ as a real civil rights anthem at a time when there are no real civil rights anthems,” Antonoff said in a webisode he and Bareilles created about the song. “And there is a giant need for a civil rights anthem.”