Sara Bareilles

It isn’t hard to believe that California-born singer-songwriter-pianist Sara Bareilles achieved mainstream success on the strength of her 2007 single, “Love Song”—it’s catchy, has a swooning chorus, and could easily be the theme song to any number of insipid teen-centric sitcoms. But that doesn’t mean Bareilles’ music is all that remarkable. As a whole, it’s pleasant, but also generic and bland (really, the sort of music you’d clean your bathroom to), and generally serves as a reminder of artists who tread the genre with far more passion and interest, like Fiona Apple or Norah Jones. But Bareilles still has a sizeable audience, as 2010’s debut of Kaleidoscope Heart at the top of the Billboard chart shows. In between all of that, Bareilles found time to release a documentary, A Trace Of The Sun, about volunteering to help with the Japanese tsunami recovery effort while on tour there.

Updated 04/12/2012