Sara Bareilles skipped up to the microphone with a large smile on her face and took out the inside jacket to her own album and waved it in front of the audience, confessing she had it in case she forgot lyrics while on stage.

VH1’s ‘You Oughta Know’ artist Bareilles entertained a full Goldstein Auditorium Saturday night with more than just her music as she joked and interacted with the audience throughout her set.

‘I would’ve worn orange,’ Bareilles said in between one of her songs. ‘But it didn’t match with my shoes.’

During the third annual Women in Music concert, Bareilles, as well as several female students, took the stage to celebrate Women’s History Month. Female a capella groups The Mandarins and Main Squeeze started the show off with cover songs by Madonna, Dave Matthews and Mika.

Following their performances, five female soloists – winners of the Women in Music talent competition – took the stage and sang everything from cover songs to original compositions with instrument accompaniment.

‘I really liked Emily Elkin,’ said Mike Tran, a sophomore biology major, who enjoyed the performance so much he found Elkin on Facebook to congratulate her. ‘I really liked her song selection, especially when she sang ‘Samson’ by Regina Spektor.’

Bareilles, a California native, cites several musical influences from diverse musical genres like The Police, Bjork, Ben Folds, Etta James and Bob Marley.

Donning jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of Chuck Taylor sneakers, Bareilles blended in with the audience, something she said she likes in performers.

‘I’d tell aspiring performers to be honest with themselves and do what feels natural to them,’ Bareilles said. ‘People who make the best performers do the best with what they have. You have to trust your gut and be natural with what you are putting out there, and people will receive it well.’

Bareilles said being true to herself and tuning out what nay-sayers were talking about was one of her biggest challenges as an up-and-coming artist.

‘I didn’t get good reactions,’ Bareilles said. ‘It can be very discouraging. But you

have to stay focused and keep doing what you’re doing and not worry about anything else.’

She performed a unique song selection, which kept the highly receptive audience on its toes. While most of her songs came from her album, ‘Little Voice,’ some songs were ones she recorded but couldn’t get on the album, including the single for which the album is named.

To the surprise of the audience, she also performed a couple familiar songs by artists like Christina Aguilera and Peter Gabriel.

‘I thought Genie in a Bottle was awesome, Tran said. ‘I digged it better than the original.’

Other songs the audience seemed to favor were the uppity, reggae-sounding ‘Love on the Rocks’ and of course, the chart topper, ‘Love Song,’ during which the floor audience got on its feet and danced along.

Despite her newfound fame and upcoming tour with one of her favorite groups, Counting Crows, Bareilles remains humble about her fame and her future.

‘(Being famous) doesn’t feel that different to me,’ Bareilles said. ‘It’s awesome to be in the position where more people are listening, but my everyday life hasn’t changed too much except that I’m busy doing what I love. Things always change with the drop of a hat, so I’m just trying to enjoy what is happening right now.’

kaoutram@syr.edu

Published on March 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm