Sara Bareilles is back nearly six years after her last solo album, The Blessed Unrest, was released and only a few months after completing her third run in her Tony-nominated musical, Waitress. Bareilles’ New album, Amidst the Chaos, is a refreshing blend of acoustic tranquility and fierce feminism.

     The first-released single from the album, “Armor”, reflects on the strength of female unity. In today’s society, songs like “Armor” become increasingly more important as women face discrimination in many different aspects of life, especially in the workplace. Bareilles uses discrimination as a call to action for women to support each other. Aside from her important message, Bareilles’ vocals in this track are absolutely perfect. Her strong belts and tone fit the message of the song perfectly.

     This album contains many of Bareilles’ stylistic signatures, including riffs fit for Heaven, a sense of storytelling, deeply personal yet relatable lyrics, and small elements of jazz music, but at the same time, it breaks new ground, deviating from Bareilles’ pop-like sound. This album gives the listener tranquil coffee house vibes that are soothing and energizing at the same time.

      Unlike some of her other albums, Bareilles often uses religious imagery in several tracks of Amidst the Chaos. One of my personal favorite songs from the album, “Saint Honesty”, speaks of “salvation” and being “baptized by truth.” In “Armor”, she traces the struggles of women back to the Bible and references Eve in the Garden of Eden. Although this may seem a bit outside of Bareilles’ typical style, she executes these allusions very well, giving a deeper sense of morality to these songs.

     I predict that Bareilles’ album will do very well, especially with her announcement that she will be touring with this album. Since Amidst the Chaos is a bit different from her other albums, I predict that she will expand her audience to adult listeners, who dislike the modern pop and rap on the radio. Overall, Bareilles’ album provides a new perspective about dealing with the world and all its problems in a time when messages of encouragement are greatly needed.