Sara Bareilles Hopes to Reach New Audience with 'Kaleidoscope Heart' Tour

For many singers, a hit record can be elusive. Not so for Sara Bareilles. This singer-songwriter from the western state of California topped the Billboard Pop and AC charts in 2007 with "Love Song". Since then, she has earned three Grammy nominations and sold more than a million records.

Music has always been Bareilles’ passion. At an early age she began performing in her school choir and musicals. While studying Communications at the University of California, Los Angeles she joined the acappella group Awaken A Cappella.

“I got started my sophomore year in school and I was just talking about it earlier [today]. I felt like I just found my home because we were all equally geeky [unique),” Bareilles says.



Combining her talents as a songwriter and singer came easy for Bareilles.

“They [singing and songwriting] went hand in hand…writing the songs and singing them," Bareilles says. "I think they are all so personal and I tend to be [an] autobiographical writer.”

Her songs are often very personal.

“I do write very much from my own perspective," Bareilles says. "I am writing about things I have gone through…a lot of relationship stuff and sort of how I see the world.”

Sara Bareilles’s latest CD is called Kaleidoscope Heart.

“I feel like I took more risks this time around both from the songwriting perspective and from the production point," she explains. "We just kind of swung for the fences. I did not want to limit myself or self edit too much so I did what felt good. I had a blast recording the record."

Sara Bareilles is best known for her 2007 hit "Love Song". You may be surprised to know who she wrote it for.

“It was actually written for my record label. I had been turning in new music and getting a red light [rejection] since they [the record label] were waiting for something - yet nobody said what they were waiting for," explains Bareilles. "So I kept turning in new songs saying ‘is this what you want?’ and it was always a big thumbs down and I ended up writing ‘Love Song’ out of frustration.”

Bareilles is on tour with Sugarland. She hopes to reach a whole new audience performing before country music fans, although she insists good music is universal.