Sara Bareilles Wants to See You Be Brave

[MJ85]

First there was "Same Love", and now there's a second LGBT anthem that's been making the rounds.

 

"Brave", the current single from singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, was co-written with fun.'s Jack Antonoff - and Sara's inspiration was seeing one of her close friends struggle with coming out.

 

This article from The Advocate talks a little more about it, and also includes both an interview with the two, as well as a lyric video for the song: http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/music/2013/04/24/sara-bareilles-wants-see-you-be-brave

 

The music video, on YouTube, doesn't follow the "coming out" theme - but this song, unlike "Same Love", is written generally enough to appeal to more than just us.

 

Still - not one, but two LGBT anthems on the radio this year - how about that?   

[Y_B]

SOCIETY NEEDS TO STOP PRESSURING PPL TO COME OUT. IT DOESN'T WORK FOR EVERYONE IN EVERY SITUATION. NOT COMING OUT IS NOT BEING COWARDLY, IN A LOT OF CIRCUMSTANCES IT IS BEING SMART. FUCK SARAH B AND HER SONG

Edited September 14, 2013 by Y_B

[Ron]

STOP PRESSURING PPL TO COME OUT.

 

 

I didn't get that from listening to the song or the words, Y_B. It seemed pretty generic despite the original intent behind it, just as MJ mentioned. I didn't particularly care for her voice and I think it would have more impact if the lyrics had more specificity to the reason for the song. 'Same Love' by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is a much better anthem (even though I pretty much can't stand rap) and that's partly because anthem type songs sound better in the male voice to me and also we need more men approaching the subject of tolerance. It's almost entirely men that work the physical side of gay harassment and so we need men who are willing to try to influence other men that we are really not so very different from one another.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Ron

[Sasha Distan]

I thought this rocked. yes, generic enough to appeal to everyone, and it can be taken to mean so many different things. 

 

"Show me how big your brave is" i love that line. that song could uplift anyone to tell the truth about themselves; gay, straight, in love with your best friend, that you really want to be in a band and play music, that you want to quit sports and study to become an accountant. that you're a writer and you're proud of what you do... this is a damn good song.

 

Also, i love that the lyric video is about a bunch of girls having a band at home and that one of them has braces. 

[Bill W]

I was impressed and it was written in a way that could include many other areas, so it shouldn't draw the severe backlash it might if it was obviously an LGBT anthem.  People will get the message, even if they choose to ignore it.  Remember, straight people can be brave too, when they stick up for giving the LGBT the right to marry and enjoy the same benefits as the rest of society.  It isn't just about coming out. 

[Thorn Wilde]

I really do think it's great that there are artists and performers standing up for us in the LGBTQ crowd, and anthems like this are wonderful and make me feel like there's hope for the world. At the same time, I think it's really sad that the only ones that are taken any notice of are straight artists 'sympathising' with us, when there are so many talented non-straight artists doing the same. That's too 'controversial', no one wants to hear from us, they just want feel-good tunes by straight artists who make them feel like they're somehow extraordinary for not being bigots. Yeah, well done, you're not a completely awful human being, you deserve a reward!

[Henry_Henry2012]

SOCIETY NEEDS TO STOP PRESSURING PPL TO COME OUT. IT DOESN'T WORK FOR EVERYONE IN EVERY SITUATION. NOT COMING OUT IS NOT BEING COWARDLY, IN A LOT OF CIRCUMSTANCES IT IS BEING SMART. FUCK SARAH B AND HER SONG

 

^ This! 

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! 

 

Is it weird that I'm imagining this sentence being spoken by Patrick Stewart. 

[TetRefine]

SOCIETY NEEDS TO STOP PRESSURING PPL TO COME OUT. IT DOESN'T WORK FOR EVERYONE IN EVERY SITUATION. NOT COMING OUT IS NOT BEING COWARDLY, IN A LOT OF CIRCUMSTANCES IT IS BEING SMART. FUCK SARAH B AND HER SONG

 

The best part is, the scene queens who pressure everyone to come out then shun the ones who don't fit their version of gay when they do come out. The flamers have to got to be some of the least accepting people I've ever met. 

[Y_B]

Out of everyone I've ever known in my life, the people i've gotten the least understanding, acceptance and tolerance from are gay guys. Hands down. And I got seriously tired of being implied to that being closeted is the root of all my problems and coming out is this magical procedure to cure all things undesirable.

[Henry_Henry2012]

 

Out of everyone I've ever known in my life, the people i've gotten the least understanding, acceptance and tolerance from are gay guys. Hands down. And I got seriously tired of being implied to that being closeted is the root of all my problems and coming out is this magical procedure to cure all things undesirable.

 

 

And that is why I don't have that much gay friends. I do have gay friends, but most of them have other lives to ponder on their own rather than meddle in other people's affairs and subjected notions of what is to be gay. The notion of being 'out' makes you freer only comes to an extent of your societal upbringing. If whether your conventional, religious, political, social structures bar you from coming out . . . it is every gay man's right to feel the need to do as such -- in their own time, and in their own ways. Otherwise, we'd be plastering an 'In The Closet' propaganda on every accused homo in the world, which contradicts the very notion of individuality, which every homosexual is fighting at this very moment.

 

I do appreciate songs like this. Because 'Fear' is the heart of love. And such songs eases the burden, somehow, that everything's going to be all right to every teenager or person out there who wishes to end their miseries in the most disorderly manner. And in every society lawful god-fearing closeted homosexual out there who thinks that coming out to the public to proclaim to the world that he is ready for everyone to know that he is gay, there is that fear that everything he imagined to be won't pan out the way songs like these envision gay men in their outings to happen to them.

 

Support is so hard to come by when you know the world is against you. The hardest part is knowing who is really out there to help you, not drag you 10-feet to the ground to where you were in the first place. If one person could be emboldened by songs like these, then bravo to them. I hope they don't expect that it's rainbow coloured ponies and pastries afterwards and then blaming Sara B. for telling them to come out. And then Sara would be like . . .

 

"Guuuurrl! I ain't told you to come out to all your brothers and sister like we are family, I got all my sisters and me. I told you to be brave, not be delusional that everythangs gon'na be alright. Somethings ain't right with you honey. Want a popsickle?"

[Trebs]

Got to see her last Saturday, and she talked about her friend a little as she intro'd the song. Was a fantastic feeling and really happy energy as she sang the song! She is a great artist to see live.