LOS ANGELES - As she did with the hit Broadway musical Waitress, pop star Sara Bareilles wrote the original music for Little Voice, a romantic comedy drama about a shy young singer, Bess (Brittany O'Grady), who is trying to make it in New York but afraid to go on stage.

Although she is now a successful, Grammy-winning artist, the singer-songwriter tells The Straits Times the character's fear of performing her own music is what she went through herself when she was younger.