AceShowbiz - Sara Bareilles has thanked Tina Fey for bringing her out of the darkness following the death of a friend and offering her the lead on a fun new streaming series.

The "Brave" singer admits "Girls5eva" is exactly what she needed as she dealt with the tragedy and working on the project, about an aged girl group making a comeback, was really therapeutic.

"I got the call - I want to say it was maybe June inside the lockdown - and I, like many people, was having a really hard time," Sara tells Billboard. "I was having a real, real hard time, emotionally and mentally and just how to get through this time."

"And [producer] Tina called and I had a Zoom meeting with her, and I felt like I was in a dream or something. I felt like she was pitching me a literal fantasy: 'You want to do this fun show that's, like, comedy but music and about women and they're reclaiming their voice and you can work with all these incredible people?' And I'm like, 'Are you f**king for real?' "

"I actually remember saying, 'Are you sure? Because I've never done this before. Did you get the wrong number here?' But she had seen me in 'Waitress' [on Broadway]... It was an immediate yes..."

"It was such a beautiful decision. I went through the loss of a very close friend last year, and I started filming this right after he had passed. And it was so cathartic to go into that healing, loving, hilarious space with all of these wonderful people."

"Girls5eva", which also stars Renee Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps, is currently available on streaming site Peacock.