"Bottle It Up" is a song written and recorded by Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles

Sara Beth Bareilles is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She achieved mainstream success in 2007 with the hit single "Love Song", which brought her into the number one spot on the Billboard Pop 100 chart. She has sold over 1 million records in the United States alone and has been...

. The song was produced by Eric Rosse. It was the second single of her album Little Voice

Little Voice (album)

Little Voice is the debut major-label album by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, which was released on July 17, 2007. Six of the tracks are re-recorded studio versions of songs from her previous album, Careful Confessions. A two-disc special edition of Little Voice with live acoustic tracks was...

. The song was also featured in a Rhapsody

Rhapsody (online music service)

Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...

 commercial.

"Bottle It Up" was sent to CHR

Contemporary hit radio

Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts...

 radio format on April 29, 2008 in US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The song appears on the international soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera A Favorita

A Favorita

A Favorita was a popular and award-winning telenovela, first broadcast in Brazil at Rede Globo from June 2, 2008 to January 17, 2009. During its broadcast, it ranked within the top of the most watched shows in Brazil....

. The song also appears on a commercial to promote CBS' new television show The Ex List.

Background

In an April 15, 2008 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Bareilles explained that the song is about the music business and, more specifically, the struggles of being an artist with a record contract:

Before I had a record deal, I wrote that song about what it would be like to have a record deal, and the struggles of how do you become an artist who feels like they haven’t quote/unquote `sold out,’ and how do you stay true to your art and figure out how to make a living from it,” she said. “The chorus says it all: `I do it for love.’ Music - and particularly songwriting - for me is such a passion, it’s a very sacred thing for me."

Versions

There are two versions of the song, the album version is the version that appeared on the original release of the album, and the single/radio version appears on the deluxe edition and is the version that was used in the Rhapsody commercial.

The single/radio version features a piano intro, whereas the album version does not.

On the radio version, the line "you're shit out of your luck" is replaced with the words "you're straight out of your luck" while mainstream radio stations simply censor

Censorship of music

Censorship of music is the practice of restricting free access to musical works. This censorship may stem from a wide variety of motivations, including moral, political, military or religious reasons. Censorship can range from the complete government-enforced legal prohibition of a musical work, to...

 the word by removing the "it" portion of the word.

The song is written in the key of A Minor

A minor

A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

.

Music video

The official music video for "Bottle It Up" was released to Bareilles' YouTube account on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. It was directed by Marcos Siega

Marcos Siega

Marcos Siega is a film, television, commercial, and music video director. He has also worked as a producer and a musician....

. The video features Bareilles in different settings with a piano always with her. She has stated that the video is meant to symbolize how music is an important part of people's lives.

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100...	7
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts...	15
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...	57
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	31