Meet Me at Crafty

Every once in a while, a documentary feels almost impossibly tender and tough, like life itself. Come See Me in the Good Light—Ryan White’s film about poet and activist Andrea Gibson navigating life, love, craft, and cancer—feels like that from the first frame. Then, as if Gibson’s story is not moving enough, Sara Bareilles takes the wheel with an original song.

Stream Come See Me in the Good Light

Bareilles saw an early cut of the film. “I was floored at the beauty,” she says. “It is so funny and so life-affirming and so joyful and resonant. To me, there is no other word than ‘medicinal.’ I just think this is good medicine for the world.”

After the film ended, Bareilles immediately opened the documents of Gibson’s writing and started stitching together a song. Gibson, determined that the film not leave audiences in despair, wanted an ending rooted in hope. For Bareilles, the assignment was instantly clear: write from Andrea’s voice, for Andrea’s partner, Megan Falley. “Andrea straddles this earthy grit and determination, and this romantic, elevated, ethereal place. Nobody does it quite like them.”

If writing the score for Broadway’s Waitress taught Bareilles anything, it was that writing for someone else can be shockingly intimate. Creating from another person’s point of view, she says, requires “radical empathy. It’s about finding what makes us more alike than different. That feels medicinal too.”

The collaboration moved quickly. Brandi Carlile, also an executive producer, was part of the writing process and provided vocals; Rob Moose helped Bareilles pull off a recording under a tight deadline pre-Sundance (“We were down to the wire”). But if there was pressure, there was also a north star: Gibson’s stubborn, playful refusal to back down. Bareilles compares it to the film’s recurring battle with a repeatedly snowplow-mangled mailbox. “Just the determination of, we’re gonna make it work. I welcome experiences that make you innovate and be a little scrappy.”

The finished track became more than a theme song. When Gibson and Falley heard it, the reaction was exactly what an artist always hopes for: warmth, gratitude, recognition. “It’s been a life-changing experience,” Bareilles says. “I just didn’t see this coming.”

So what’s her craft services go-to? Bareilles laughs. “It really depends on the craft services. You know what I’m saying? I’m always appreciative if there’s a fresh fruit, but if you’ve been on set for a long time, sometimes I just want like a Cheeto or a Dorito. I want something orange that’s not natural. But I don’t regret my choice when I go for something fresh.”

In other words, salt then sour then sweet. Choose all of it. Say yes.