Sara Bareilles is opening up about the spiritual dimension of her grief as she tours behind her new album, "Good Grief" - describing a practice she calls "writing letters to God."
In a new interview with CNN, the singer-songwriter said that grappling with the loss of two close friends - her former manager Chad Joseph and Broadway actor Gavin Creel - pushed her toward a deeper sense of the sacred in everyday mourning. "I know there's so much speech around the veil being thin around the time of loss, and I just feel the more time I spend really examining grief in all its forms, the veil is thin always," she said. "I have found so much comfort in that."
That sense of communion has carried into her live shows. At Toronto's Massey Hall this week, Bareilles led the audience through a set the Globe and Mail described as walking listeners through her grief "and shepherding them through their own" - turning each performance into a shared, almost devotional experience. Bareilles told CNN she hopes her concerts become "an open space of mourning" where fans can process their own losses alongside hers.
The album, released August 28, also touches on her years-long fertility struggle and the 2024 death of Creel, the subject of the song "Forever," which she has said she still struggles to perform without crying.
Bareilles kicked off her first full tour of the decade this month, with stops continuing through the fall. For listeners walking through their own grief, her message has struck a chord: mourning, she says, doesn't have to be endured alone.
Related articles:
- Sara Bareilles Returns After 7 Years With "Good Grief": New Album Is About the Friends She Lost
- Sara Bareilles' Fertility Journey and the "Messy Middle" of Good Grief
