Sara Bareilles Releases Good Grief, Her First Studio Album in Seven Years

Sara Bareilles’ Good Grief album arrived Friday, August 28, ending a seven-year gap between studio albums for the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter. Released through Epic Records, the 14-track record follows 2019’s Amidst the Chaos and centers on loss, grief, connection and the difficult process of moving forward.

The release gives listeners the complete album that Bareilles first announced in June, when Epic Records described Good Grief as her seventh studio album and her first in seven years. Sony Music’s original Epic Records announcement also introduced the first single, “Home,” and confirmed that Bareilles would support the record with a North American tour beginning in September.

Sara Bareilles’ Good Grief album turns loss into its central subject

Good Grief does not treat its title as a passing theme. Bareilles built the record around experiences of loss and the ways people carry grief into the rest of their lives. The finished album runs 14 songs and 58 minutes, according to the album’s Apple Music listing, which also identifies Epic Records as the label behind the release.

The opening track, “Home,” grew from a conversation about grief between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper. Bareilles has said hearing other people speak openly about loss encouraged her to tell more of her own story, establishing a theme that runs through the album rather than disappearing after its first song.

“Still Crying,” released ahead of the album, approaches the same emotional territory from another angle. Other songs include “Just a Kid,” “A Love Story,” “Hands Off My Body,” “Ladies in a Line,” “Heartland,” “Capsize Me,” “Nervous Breakdown,” “Idiot Heart,” “Say Leave,” “Forever” and “Wind Is the Weather.”

Brandi Carlile and Aaron Dessner are part of the record

The album also brings several recognizable collaborators into Bareilles’ orbit. Brandi Carlile appears on “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet,” while Ingrid Michaelson is among the writers connected to “Nervous Breakdown.” Aaron Dessner, whose production and songwriting work has stretched across indie rock and major pop releases, also contributed to the project.

That combination fits an album that moves between Bareilles’ established piano-driven songwriting and a broader ensemble approach. Rather than building the project around high-profile features, the collaborations largely serve the record’s central emotional idea.

The presence of Carlile is particularly natural given both artists’ reputations for songwriting that places narrative and vocal performance ahead of pop spectacle. The collaboration arrives as Bareilles returns more fully to recording after spending much of the period since Amidst the Chaos moving among theater, television, film and live performance.

Good Grief follows seven years outside the conventional album cycle

Bareilles was hardly absent during the gap between albums. Her work continued to expand around Waitress, the musical for which she wrote music and lyrics, while her acting career included the television comedy Girls5eva. A filmed version of Waitress also brought the stage production to movie audiences.

That makes the seven-year interval less a hiatus than a period in which Bareilles’ career became increasingly multidisciplinary. Good Grief brings the recording-artist side of that career back to the foreground.

The album’s creation has also become the subject of a documentary. Bareilles’ official site describes Sara Bareilles: Good Grief as a film following her return to the studio and the personal experiences behind the record. The documentary premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival and is scheduled for additional theatrical screenings in September.

Bareilles is connecting the album to mental-health organizations

The release also has a charitable component. Bareilles’ official store says she will donate 100 percent of proceeds from sales of certain Good Grief album products on her website to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The decision connects the album’s themes with organizations working outside the music industry. The tour carries a related initiative: Live Nation said one dollar from every ticket sold will benefit The Jed Foundation, which focuses on emotional health and suicide prevention among teens and young adults.

Live Nation’s tour announcement says the North American run begins September 9 in Boston, with stops including New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Nashville, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Good Grief opens Bareilles’ next chapter

The album arrives almost two decades after “Love Song” transformed Bareilles from a working singer-songwriter into a mainstream pop presence. Her career since then has resisted staying inside one format, moving from albums and touring into Broadway songwriting, acting and screen projects.

Good Grief brings that path back to a traditional full-length record without pretending the intervening years did not happen. Its subject matter is explicitly shaped by them.

For Bareilles, the new album also begins a busy stretch rather than completing one. The documentary is moving into additional screenings, the tour begins in September and the complete record is now available after months of individual songs and previews.

Seven years after her last studio album, the Sara Bareilles Good Grief album places songwriting back at the center of her work, this time with a record built around what happens when grief is acknowledged instead of avoided.