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Sara Bareilles revealed her unreleased song “Home” was inspired by a conversation between Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert
In the 2022 conversation, Cooper and Colbert talked about navigating grief, which was something Bareilles could relate to
The song is “pretty much plagiarism from that conversation,” she joked
Sara Bareilles drew inspiration from Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert‘s conversation about grief for her new song “Home.”
During an appearance on All There Is with Anderson Cooper on Thursday, March 19, the singer-songwriter shared her unreleased song “Home” — and opened up about how Cooper and Colbert served as a source for inspiration.
In the conversation, Bareilles said that she listened to their conversation on his podcast in 2022, where they shared their experiences about grief and loss. At the time, Bareilles was navigating losses in her own life — and she wrote “Home” to process those feelings.

Anderson Cooper, Sara Bareilles and Stephen Colbert
Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
“I was really moved,” Bareilles, 46, who experienced grief after the death of two beloved friends — Chad Joseph in 2020, and Gavin Creel in 2024 — from cancer, said.
“You say it in the interview: It’s about telling your story, and about telling your story warts and all, is the thing that brings you back home. And I think of home as being a place of connection,” she continued. “Your soul is at peace and at rest when you’re in connection.”
“For me, on this earth, our work is to find ways to be bold enough to let other people see us. And telling stories is such an important part of that,” she continued.
In the song, which Bareilles joked is “pretty much plagiarism from that conversation,” she sings, “I am one day older than my father was / Than he ever got to be / I was 10 years old when I grew up / Cause he died at 53 / I stare at across the great divide / And my mother who was left / Dinner tables stretched oceans wide / Like a hollow in a chest.”
“I never asked hard questions / I thought they cause more pain / I hadn’t yet learned life’s holy lesson / That what is broken cannot heal until it’s known / And loved by name,” she sings.

Sara Bareilles in New York City in June 2023
Credit: Jenny Anderson/Getty
Cooper, who’s been open about the toll the death of his father and brother took on him, got emotional listening to the song and wiped tears from his face.
In the podcast intro, Cooper, 58, said, “You’re going to hear that song on the podcast today. It hasn’t been released yet, but Sara wanted all of us in this community to hear it first. I had not heard it in advance, and I was incredibly moved by it. I’m a little embarrassed about how emotional I got.”
Bareilles is currently working on her seven studio album, with her latest being 2019’s Amidst the Chaos. She has not announced a release date for “Home.”
Read the original article on People