I wanna see you be brave

The first time I realized the Clinton campaign was using Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” as a campaign theme, I thrilled everywhere. (It’s the “I wanna see you be brave” that’s belting out behind her when she walks onstage at a lot of rallies).

You see, it’s kinda my song. Or, at least in the way that a song that’s sold millions of copies can be mine.

“Brave” came out a month after my book. And its lyrics read like a writer’s manifesto. “Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out/Honestly, I wanna see you be brave.” But other parts are uncanny too: “You can be amazing/You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug,” and “Stop holding your tongue.” It speaks to every urge to write I’ve ever had. It even has a phrase that feels like a kind of nod to my book title (but isn’t, of course), “Let your words be anything but empty/Why don’t you tell them the truth?”

Stuck? Sad? Lost? There’s always a way out. And it usually involves being brave.

Or, as Sara Bareilles writes, “Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live/Maybe one of these days you can let the light in/Show me how big your brave is.” Check out the lyrics video and get your brave on.

“Brave” always makes me feel unstoppable. Glad to know it also works for the next leader of the free world.

Full lyrics:

“Brave”