Amidst the Chaos is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter
Sara Bareilles, released on April 5, 2019, through
Epic Records. The lead single from the album, "Armor", was released digitally on October 26, 2018.[2] The album debuted at number six on the US
Billboard 200 selling 35,000 copies in its first week (29,000 of which were traditional album sales), making it Bareilles' sixth top 10 album.[3] "Saint Honesty" earned Bareilles a
Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance at the
2020 ceremony.
Background
In an interview with Forbes, Bareilles stated that the
2016 American Presidential Election was the catalyst for her beginning to write the album, with the title being a reference to the presidency of
Donald Trump. The song "No Such Thing" was written as an ode to president
Barack Obama,[4] while "Armor" was written in response to the
#MeToo Movement and released early in light of the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice
Brett Kavanaugh.[5] The duet with
John Legend, "A Safe Place to Land", was written about the
immigrant family separation crisis along the US–Mexico border in 2018.[6]
Promotion
The lead single, "Armor", was released on October 28, 2018, with Bareilles performing the song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on November 28, backed by an all-female band.[7] She announced the album on February 13, and said it would become available to pre-order on February 15. She also posted the cover art, a black-and-white shot of herself with "windblown hair".[8]
Prior to the album's release, Bareilles embarked upon the four-date A Little Chaos Tour, stopping in
San Francisco,
Los Angeles,
Chicago and
New York City between March 17 and 22, 2019.[9] Bareilles performed several unreleased songs from the album, as well as its promotional singles. On April 6, 2019, Bareilles appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live and performed "Fire" and "Saint Honesty".[10]