Music Review: Sara Bareilles "I Choose You"

Sara Bareilles

I Choose You

Album: The Blessed Unrest

Year: 2014

          Sara Bareilles has found her soulmate in the intimate  “I Choose You.”

         A content synth opens the single, setting a grateful  tone.  A natural disaster could affect their home, destroying everything they’ve worked for. Their world could become cruel and disheartening. It’s her boyfriend who will make everything okay. (“Let the bough break, let it come down crashing/Let the sun fade out to a dark sky/I can't say I'd even notice it was absent/Cause I could live by the light in your eyes.”)

         In the pre-chorus, she is entirely open to him. She couldn’t keep a secret from him even if she wanted to. He would figure out it just by the look on her face. It’s one of the many reasons why she loves him. (“I'll unfold before you/Would have strung together/The very first words/Of a lifelong love letter.”)

         In the chorus, she’s ready to make it official and get married.  It’s their time now to celebrate their love with their families and friends. (“Tell the world that we finally got it all right/I choose you/I will become yours and you will become mine/I choose you/I choose you.”)

           For a while, her friends and acquaintances were all getting married. Each time she went to the weddings either alone or with a guy she couldn’t glance at while the couple said the vows, smiling that they it might be them someday. Her boyfriend changed her mind, though. Love is something real and not some imaginary idea. (“There was a time when I would have believed them/If they told me you could not come true/Just love's illusion/But then you found me and everything changed/And I believe in something again.”)

         In the pre-chorus, she says she can’t think of being with someone else. She will always love him and want him as a part of her life. (“My whole heart/Will be yours forever/This is a beautiful start/To a lifelong love letter.”)

           The chorus is sung again.

            In the bridge, she said something really stupid to him the other day. She hurt him and even though she apologized, she still feels horrible. She can’t bear to see his sad eyes again. (“We are not perfect/We'll learn from our mistakes/And as long as it takes/I will prove my love to you/I am not scared of the elements/I am under-prepared, but I am willing/And even better/I get to be the other half of you.”)

         An extended chorus is sung again to end the single. (“Tell the world that we finally got it all right/I choose you/I will become yours and you will become mine/I choose you/I choose you/I choose you.”)

           Bareilles’ sincere vocals know what she wants from her life. It’s him and it will always be him. She has a tendency to let out her frustration in her life in her songs and as a result, she comes across as defensive. Given her history (“King of Anything and “Love Song”), it made “Brave” seem like yet another criticism. However, she does allow herself to be truly vulnerable and shows off a softer side of her personality.

          The  idllyic “I Choose You” gets lost in a loving glance, unable to break away.