Sara Bareilles Says She Wrote 'Love Song' to Rebel Against Record Labels and Thought She Would 'Get in Trouble'
Sara Bareilles Says She Wrote 'Love Song' to Rebel Against Record Labels and Thought She Would 'Get in Trouble'
Daniela AvilaFri, July 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC
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Sara Bareilles in Los Angeles in February 2026Credit: Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic -
Sara Bareilles revealed "Love Song" was written as a defiant response to feeling pressured by her record label
The 2007 hit became a breakout success, earning two Grammy nominations and spending over 40 weeks on the charts
Bareilles said the song reflected her fear of losing herself in the music industry and her refusal to conform
For Sara Bareilles, "Love Song" was an act of rebellion.
Speaking with Rolling Stone about her breakout song on Tuesday, June 30, the singer and actress got candid about fearing she would lose herself after finding fame.
"It took me so long, and I don't regret the fear that I carried, because I think it made me cling to my own vulnerability," Bareilles, 46, told the outlet. "Telling the truth makes me feel safe. This no interest in artifice and telling the truth was something I clung to as a young artist, so I'm just going to tell you the truth."
When she sat down to write "Love Song," she did just that.
"When I wrote 'Love Song,' I was writing it to the record label thinking I was going to get in trouble because it was so obvious," Bareilles said. "I was saying, 'I'm not going to write you a love song,' and they didn't know. They didn't know! And I was like, 'What is this life?' It's wild."
Bareilles released her hit song in June 2007 as the lead single from Little Voice. The song rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent more than 40 weeks on the charts. The track also earned her two Grammy nominations.
In a 2021 Glamour interview, the singer-songwriter set the record straight on the song's inspiration.
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"The song wasn't a specific response to my record company. Nobody sat me down and said, 'I need this kind of song from you.' There was more of a subtle, nuanced… withholding. I was getting ready to release the first record, and I had a whole boatload of songs, so I was like, 'What's the deal? Let's get in the studio. Let's make the record.' There was a withholding of the green light," said Bareilles.
She continued: "I was encouraged to keep writing and to meet with co-writers. The co-writer thing was a total disaster, devastating on every level. I felt invisible and unimportant and manipulated and all the things," she continued. "But I knew — because I'm a smart person — that they didn't have a song they felt they could go to radio with. So I shifted to the idea of a love song."
Sara Bareilles in New York City in November 2025Credit: Manoli Figetakis/Getty
Then, Bareilles said she wrote the song "so deeply specific to my experience," and she thought they would be angry with her — but it turned out to be the opposite.
"It was a response to feeling invisible and knowing that I wasn't going to be manipulated. I was so stubborn, especially at that age. I was so protective of myself — I wasn't going to do what they asked me to do. I wasn't going to wear the sparkly dress, I wasn't going to wear the high heels," she said. "In some ways, I probably wasn't having as much fun as I could have had. I was so concerned with losing myself, somehow, in the process."
Bareilles added that "Love Song" was her "little stubborn 'f--- you.'"
"The music industry, and the entertainment industry at large, can be a really toxic place. For someone like me who's prone to a lot of depression and anxiety and self-doubt, I know that I have to manage my mental state in a really rigorous way. I think I felt protective of myself, but the song ended up opening all these doors for me and taking me around the world," she concluded.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
