Direct Answer
Sara Bareilles credits Meg Wolitzer’s novel The Interestings with altering her creative outlook: it opened new emotional territory in her songwriting, helped her process several years of personal losses, and ultimately motivated her to adapt the novel into a stage musical.
How The Interestings Influenced Her Work
A creative reset while grieving
Bareilles encountered Wolitzer’s novel after it was proposed as an adaptation project. Reading it coincided with a difficult five-year stretch during which she lost close friends, and the book’s themes of mortality, talent, and nostalgia gave her language and structure to work through those feelings artistically. She has described the connection between affection and sorrow plainly: “Great love and great loss are just braided together.” — Sara Bareilles
From novel to musical theater
Beyond personal reflection, the novel supplied a narrative and emotional scale that pushed Bareilles back into theater writing. The project marked her return to Broadway-era composition roughly a decade after Waitress, spawning new musical ideas and storytelling methods she had not explored in her pop records.
Shifts in tone and subject matter
Readers and listeners can trace the book’s impact in the way Bareilles approaches topics like grief, identity, and memory in recent work. The novel encouraged a more expansive, character-driven approach to arranging songs and crafting musical arcs—moving toward compositions that hold tension between tenderness and loss.
Where to hear the conversation
The full interview and discussion of this influence are available on the Books That Changed My Life YouTube channel, where Bareilles talks about the book and the creative choices it inspired.
Common Questions
What book did Sara Bareilles discuss?
She spoke about The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, the novel cited as the primary literary influence in her recent creative period.
In what way did the novel affect her career?
The novel motivated Bareilles to adapt the story for the stage and informed the emotional palette of her songwriting—leading to new theatrical work and music that leans into themes of loss, memory, and complicated friendships.
What is the name of the album tied to these themes?
The record associated with those subjects is titled Good Grief, which centers on loss and transformation and reflects the introspective tone sparked by the novel.
About Sara Bareilles
Sara Bareilles is a singer, songwriter, actress, and composer known for pop hits and her Tony-recognized score for the musical Waitress. Her recent projects include new theater work inspired by literary sources and music that explores grief, identity, and emotional truth.
Related links
- The Interestings — Meg Wolitzer (book link)
- Books That Changed My Life — YouTube conversation
- Sara Bareilles official site
Related reading on queuepost.com: Inside Margaret Cho’s Deep Love for I’m With the Band; Inside Susan Lucci’s Find Your Glow Recovery From Grief.
