Bareilles’ new album was the result of unrest, but as its title suggests, she has positively embraced her dissatisfaction and subsequently grown as an artist. Some of these risks do not pan out, such as when Bareilles commits to a constellation’s point of view on “Cassiopeia,” but on a song like “Manhattan,” which beautifully reenacts the end of a long-distance love affair as a battle between skyscrapers and a sandy beach, Bareilles spreads wings that many were not aware she possessed.
“The Blessed Unrest” is exciting when viewed in its larger context as a transitional album the 12-song collection has its share of light fare that could earn spins on adult contemporary radio, but it’s also more lyrically daring and serious-sounding, as if Bareilles craned her neck to see Fiona Apple’s caliber of song craft and asked, “Why can’t I do that?” There are allegories, struggles with mortality, fussy arrangements and searing vocals.
“Like, ‘OK, I’m going to sit down at the piano and write some songs, then I’ll pick a producer.’ The whole methodology being a mirror image of what had come before just wasn’t feeling exciting.” “I felt antsy when thinking about coming from the same angle ,” she told Billboard last month. She started co-writing more, with artists like fun.’s Jack Antonoff. She swapped coasts and moved to New York. For “The Blessed Unrest,” released through Epic Records on Tuesday (July 16), Bareilles made the conscious decision to clear the blackboard and start anew, in spite of her prolonged recent success.
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