''Little Voice'' is the second and major-label debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, which was released on July 3, 2007 on the Epic Records label. Six of the tracks are re-recorded studio versions of songs from her previous album, ''

Careful Confessions ''Careful Confessions'' is the 2004 independently produced debut studio album by Sara Bareilles. In addition to seven studio tracks, the album features four songs recorded during live performances. Several of the songs on the album were re-recorde ...

''. A two-disc special edition of ''Little Voice'' with live acoustic tracks was released on March 18, 2008. The bonus disc also includes an interview with Bareilles and accompanying videos of the performances. "

Love Song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order ...

" was selected as the first single. It was featured as the iTunes Single of the Week for June 19–25, 2007. In 2008, " Bottle It Up" was released as the second single. The video was directed by Marcos Siega. The third single in the United States was supposed to be "

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

", with the video released on February 3, 2009, but no further information was ever revealed as to the date of the single release. The album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in February 2008, and

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

in 2011 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over one million copies. At the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

, "Love Song" was nominated for Song of the Year and

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

Singles

" was the album's lead single. Released in the United States on June 19, 2007, and in the UK and Europe in April 2008, it is Bareilles' most successful single, charting at number four in both the United States and the UK. " The River" (live) was released on January 1, 2008. Although not a mainstream release, "The River" is a live cover of Joni Mitchell's "

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

". " Bottle It Up" was the second official single, released in the United States on April 29, 2008. It did not gain as much popularity as "Love Song", and only to chart on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

at number seven. It was released in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2008, but failed to make any impact on the charts, peaking at number 92. "

" was supposed to be the third United States single from the album. The video was released online in February 2009 and appeared on VH1's top 20 countdown. The song also appears in the TV series ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

'', and plays during a (intended to be humorous) montage of lingering looks between the characters Annie and Jeff. This was inspired by a real life fanvid on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

featuring the pair that was well known amongst the cast and crew. The montage on the show was then instantly parodied using the song as backing for similar moments between the characters Abed and Pierce.

Critical reception

The album was well received by critics. When asked in an interview by British newspaper ''The Daily Mirror'' about how she would describe her music, Bareilles said, "I guess I would say it's piano-based pop/soul," and said she listened to a lot of early soul and jazz when making the album. "Love Song" was nominated for Song of the Year and

at the

Commercial performance

''Little Voice'' debuted at number 45 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 16,000 copies in its first week. After spending 20 weeks on the chart, the album reached its peak at number seven on the chart dated March 8, 2008, selling 37,000 copies. As of September 2010, the album has sold 997,000 copies in the US. On January 13, 2011, the album was certified

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over one million copies in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number nine on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, selling 14,484 copies in its first week. On July 22, 2013, the album was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI) for sales of over 60,000 copies in the UK. In New Zealand, the album debuted at number 26, helped by "Love Song" reaching number one on the radio airplay chart.

Track listing

All acoustic versions were recorded in 2008 as part of a live session fo
Stripped Music
The two-disc version also replaces the original version of "Bottle It Up" with the radio edit, which is renamed "Bottle It Up" (remix edit).

Personnel

*Drums:

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

, Brian MacLeod *Percussion: Rafael Padilla, Eric Ivan Rosse *Bass guitar: Chris Chaney *Piano: Sara Bareilles (tracks 1, 2, 4–7, 9, 11, 12),

Jamie Muhoberac Benjamin Edward "Jamie" Muhoberac is an American session keyboardist with numerous credits. He is best known for his work with Seal and Was (Not Was). Biography Muhoberac has worked with acts including The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, B ...

(tracks 3 and 8), Chris Joyner (track 10) * Fender Rhodes: Sara Bareilles * Mellotron: Eric Ivan Rosse *Guitars: Stuart Mathis, Bruce Watson, Lyle Workman, Joel Shearer *Acoustic guitar: Sara Bareilles *Programming: Eric Ivan Rosse *Cello: Cameron Stone *String arrangements: Eric Ivan Rosse *String arrangements: David Campbell *Backing vocals: Javier Dunn, Josh Day (both on "Many The Miles"), Sara Bareilles ("Love Song")

Production

*Arranged, produced, recorded and mixed by

Eric Rosse Eric Ivan Rosse is an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and mixer. Rosse started playing piano at age 8, eventually studying orchestration and arranging with Joe Rotundi Sr., whose mentorship—along with influences of soul, rock ...

*Basic tracks recorded and engineered by Howard Christopher Willing *Vocals and overdubs recorded and engineered by Eric Rosse *Assistant engineers: Dave Colvin (NRG Studios), Bill Mims (Sunset Sound Recorders), Charlie Paakari (Capitol Studios)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2007 albums Sara Bareilles albums Albums produced by Eric Rosse Epic Records albums