One of the more intriguing pop controversies of 2013 was the friendly fire exchanged over the perceived similarities between Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Sara Bareilles’ “Brave.”
This Sunday’s Grammy Awards just might bring some resolution to that argument — or at least declare a “winner”: Both tracks are nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, alongside Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors,” and Lorde’s “Royals.”
If Sunday represents an end to the controversy, that will suit Bareilles just fine. “I was surprised and to be honest disappointed at how vicious people were,” Bareilles tells EW. “It’s not my nature, and it’s not reflective of what I feel I hope to incite in people. People really felt like Katy was ripping me off, and I disagree.”
Bareilles was most frustrated by the fact that she was apparently supposed to be rivals with Perry. “Katy and I have known each other a really long time, she’s a friend of mine, and it seemed like there was this infusion of people wanting to create conflict and drama. I find that to be really fatiguing,” she said. “It’s an old paradigm of pitting people against each other based on the idea that there’s not enough—not enough fans, not enough music lovers, not enough space for both of you, so you have to hate each other. I don’t believe in that. I was disappointed. I feel it was misguided. There’s better s— to do than worry about that stuff.”
Like, for example, whether or not she should be preparing notes for a possible pair of victory speeches (she’s also up for Album of the Year). “I haven’t written anything down,” she admitted. “I would want [an acceptance speech] to be authentic, so if it happened I would want to speak from my heart. But I do worry about being so nervous.”
Find out whether Bareilles wins (and gets nervous) this Sunday at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (8pm on CBS), which you can follow in all its bombastic glory here on the Music Mix.
