Amidst the Chaos
2019 studio album by Sara Bareilles
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
Amidst the Chaos is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, released on April 5, 2019, through Epic Records. The lead single from the album, "Armor", was released digitally on October 26, 2018. The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 selling 35,000 copies in its first week (29,000 of which were traditional album sales), making it Bareilles' sixth top 10 album. "Saint Honesty" earned Bareilles a Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance at the 2020 ceremony.
01Background
In an interview with Forbes, Bareilles stated that the 2016 American Presidential Election was the catalyst for her beginning to write the album, with the title being a reference to the presidency of Donald Trump. The song "No Such Thing" was written as an ode to president Barack Obama, while "Armor" was written in response to the #MeToo Movement and released early in light of the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The duet with John Legend, "A Safe Place to Land", was written about the immigrant family separation crisis along the US-Mexico border in 2018.
02Promotion
The lead single, "Armor", was released on October 28, 2018, with Bareilles performing the song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on November 28, backed by an all-female band. She announced the album on February 13, and said it would become available to pre-order on February 15. She also posted the cover art, a black-and-white shot of herself with "windblown hair".
Prior to the album's release, Bareilles embarked upon the four-date A Little Chaos Tour, stopping in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City between March 17 and 22, 2019. Bareilles performed several unreleased songs from the album, as well as its promotional singles. On April 6, 2019, Bareilles appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live and performed "Fire" and "Saint Honesty".
A November 2019 Hollywood Bowl performance was recorded and released in 2021 as Amidst the Chaos: Live from the Hollywood Bowl.
03Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fire" | Sara Bareilles | 3:50 |
| 2. | "No Such Thing" |
| 3:57 |
| 3. | "Armor" | Bareilles | 4:27 |
| 4. | "If I Can't Have You" |
| 4:13 |
| 5. | "Eyes on You" | Bareilles | 4:04 |
| 6. | "Miss Simone" |
| 4:13 |
| 7. | "Wicked Love" | Bareilles | 4:39 |
| 8. | "Orpheus" | Bareilles | 4:13 |
| 9. | "Poetry by Dead Men" |
| 3:48 |
| 10. | "Someone Who Loves Me" | Bareilles | 3:18 |
| 11. | "Saint Honesty" |
| 4:35 |
| 12. | "A Safe Place to Land" (featuring John Legend) |
| 4:29 |
| Total length: | 49:46 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Shiny" |
| 2:53 |
| Total length: | 52:39 | ||
04Personnel
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Musicians
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Production
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05Charts
| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 25 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) | 35 |
| Scottish Albums (Official Charts) | 28 |
| Spanish Albums (Promusicae) | 69 |
| UK Albums (Official Charts) | 82 |
| US Billboard 200 | 6 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Amidst the Chaos”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Sara Bareilles - Amidst the Chaos.png by Unknown author, Fair use
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