Songfacts®:

• This is a song about mortality and what to do with the time we're here. "This last year," Bareilles said, "I've been thinking about my life on a grander scale. It feels good to me to tap into a higher sense of consciousness."
• Bareilles wrote this song with Fun's Jack Antonoff. The pair were introduced through their mutual friend, Sara Quin, one half of twin sister duo Tegan and Sara, who felt the two would hit it off. The first time they sat down to write together, Antonoff played the singer a few demos that he had been working on, one of them being the instrumental for "Brave." The two also penned this tune for The Blessed Unrest. "He's the most incredible human," Bareilles said of Antonoff to Radio.com. "He's so inspiring, so funny, so dear and sweet and charming and talented."