Rachel Syme
Appearances
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Meryl Garbus of Tune Yards.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
The Catholic Church was made for this moment. I think 2,000 years ago, the Catholic Church basically anticipated TikTok, Instagram, X. You don't have those little Swiss guard outfits and think they're not being photographed. Oil painting is not enough.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
Reading about your first record deal, though, and how many co-writers they tried to put you with, there was a sense at the beginning maybe where they didn't let you follow your own nose or trust that you could be on your own. And I know that that was difficult. So I mean, how did you feel like you had the confidence then to sort of say, I need to be solo here?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
I think people sort of assume that Love Song was written out of that despair.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
You know, that song feels so defiant. And I wonder, was it written out of despair or was it written out of the moment when you got through it and you were thinking, I'm on the other side of this and, you know, you guys can shove it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
I know you grew up loving theater and getting to work on Waitress is your grand return to your early love of theater. So maybe we can start with your early love of theater and then clock up to Waitress.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
So you're approached about Waitress, Diane Paulus, and you are having this wonderful mind meld. You watch the Adrian Shelley movie, and how do you approach this project? I know the first song you wrote for it was She Used to Be Mine.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
Do you like the workshop process for a new show? Because I know you just had your workshop for this and then it's like you have to go back and tear things apart, lose numbers, bring numbers in. I mean, is that exciting to you?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
Do you feel like working in the theater sort of reinvigorated your love of the other side of the industry? Because you were saying, like, it's the hamster wheel, it's the hamster wheel. Do you feel like you felt revived?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
But music can be such a bridge. You know, I think about how many people I know that feel so strongly about the song Gravity, for example. I mean, how for you is music your way of sort of both channeling your own insecurity and all the things you're still dealing with and then trying to connect?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
On Radiolab, a story about how the country's most brilliant doctors did exactly what they were supposed to do.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
The question we'll ask is how did this happen?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
Find out on How to Cure What Ails You from Radiolab. Listen where you get podcasts or on the WNYC app.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
I wanted to talk about a sentence from your book that I wanted to sort of hear what you think about it now, where you wrote, nothing makes me more panicky and rage-filled than the worry that I've done something in order to position myself for business over art. And I wonder where you feel like the seaside is right now between commerce and art, especially as the music business is ever changing.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
How are you fighting the good fight for art?
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Sara Bareilles Talks with Rachel Syme
Well, I know you've had the chance to meet and perform with many of your heroes and, you know, Carole King and be mentored in the industry a little bit by the people that came before. Do you, you know, you're in your 40s now. We talked about that. Do you feel a responsibility to mentor younger artists at this stage?