| BEcoming | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Creative Direction & Design by Joe Perez | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 10, 2015 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 62:59 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Stacy Barthe chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from BEcoming | ||||
| ||||
Becoming (stylized as BEcoming) is the debut studio album by Haitian American singer and songwriter Stacy Barthe. It was released on July 10, 2015, by Motown and Homeschool Records. [1] It features guest appearances from John Legend and Common.
To help promote the album's long-awaited release, a 6-track sampler was uploaded to SoundCloud on December 22, 2014. [2] BEcoming was officially released for digital download and streaming on July 10, 2015, by Motown and John Legend's Homeschool Records. [1] A short film of the same name was released on July 14, 2015—documenting Barthe's struggles with depression, attempted suicide, and weight loss journey. [3]
"War IV Love" was released on March 18, 2014, as the album's lead single. [4] "Flawed Beautiful Creatures" was released as the album's second single on December 15, 2014. [5] Both "War IV Love" and "Flawed Beautiful Creatures"—along with non-album cut, "Extraordinary Love"—were featured on BET's NAACP award-winning drama series, Being Mary Jane . A cover of Anita Baker's "Angel", featuring John Legend, was released as the album's third single on December 23, 2014. An abridged version of the cover first appeared on John Legend's fourth studio album, Love in the Future , as an interlude. [6] "Live For Today", featuring Common, was released as the album's fourth single on January 15, 2015. [7] The fifth and final single released was "You Wonder Why?" on June 29, 2015. [5] The single would become Barthe's highest performing release, peaking at number twenty-three on US Billboard's Adult R&B Songs. [8]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| The Irish Times | [10] |
| YourMusicMyWorld | [11] |
Upon its release, BEcoming received positive reviews from critics. Bobby Carter of npr music proclaimed, "BEcoming is all about brutal, fearless honesty ... when taken as a whole, it feels like a powerful and necessary purge." [12] Gail Mitchell of Billboard described BEcoming as "a powerful, raw narrative about the joys and pains of life." [13] Online R&B publication ThisIsR&B praised the album, stating: "Stacy didn’t simply record an album. Rather she penned an often raw, always real, and undeniably riveting audio diary—recounting her own unbelievable, yet universal story." [14]
| Publication | List | Year | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| BET | The Best R&B Albums of 2015 | 2015 | |
| WDET | New Soul Sunday's Best of 2015 | 2015 |
In response to the stay-at-home orders enacted to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the New York Post listed BEcoming at number eight on their list of 10 albums to revisit in 2020—calling it "one of the best R&B LPs of the '10s." [17]
Album credits adapted from Tidal. [18]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Suicide Note (Intro)" | 2:28 | ||
| 2. | "In My Head" |
| 3:00 | |
| 3. | "Sleep to Dream" |
|
| 3:43 |
| 4. | "Eyes Wide Shut" |
|
| 3:33 |
| 5. | "Here I Am" |
|
| 4:00 |
| 6. | "Me Versus Me" |
| 4:18 | |
| 7. | "Find It (Transition)" |
|
| 4:33 |
| 8. | "Live For Today" (feat. Common) |
|
| 3:46 |
| 9. | "Flawed Beautiful Creatures (Summer Version)" |
|
| 3:12 |
| 10. | "Hey You There" |
|
| 3:22 |
| 11. | "Walk On Water" |
|
| 2:35 |
| 12. | "Born to Belong (Interlude)" |
|
| 3:03 |
| 13. | "War IV Love (Spring Version)" |
|
| 3:42 |
| 14. | "Angel" (feat. John Legend) | 3:05 | ||
| 15. | "You Wonder Why?" |
| 3:50 | |
| 16. | "In the Meantime" |
|
| 4:21 |
| 17. | "Enough Is Enough..." |
|
| 6:28 |
| Total length: | 62:59 | |||
Notes
Sample credits
Personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of BEcoming. [19]
Recording locations
|
|
Mixing & mastering locations
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 [21] | 92 |
| US Top Current Albums ( Billboard ) [22] | 36 |
| US Top R&B Albums (Billboard) [23] | 4 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [24] | 8 |
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Catalog # | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | July 10, 2015 | digital download • streaming | Motown • Homeschool • Universal | B0021473-02 | [1] |
| CD | Motown | [25] |
Brandy Rayana Norwood, better known by her mononym Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. She is known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-layering, and intricate riffs, which has earned her the title of "the Vocal Bible". As of August 2020, she has sold over 40 million records worldwide, with approximately 8.62 million albums sold in the United States alone. Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award and an American Music Award.
Mary Esther Wells was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Anita Denise Baker is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8, Baker released her first solo album, The Songstress, in 1983. In 1986, she rose to stardom following the release of her Platinum-selling second album, Rapture, which included the Grammy-winning single "Sweet Love". As of 2017, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards and has four Platinum albums, along with two Gold albums. Baker is often mistaken for a contralto, but has the vocal range of mezzo-soprano, with a range of nearly three octaves.
"Love Child" is a 1968 song released by the Motown label for Diana Ross & the Supremes. The second single and title track from their album Love Child, it became the Supremes' 11th number-one single in the United States, where it sold 500,000 in its first week and 2 million copies by year's end.
"You Can't Hurry Love" is a 1966 song originally recorded by the Supremes on the Motown label. It was released on July 25 of 1966 as the second single from their studio album The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966).
American girl group The Supremes have released 29 studio albums, four live albums, two soundtrack albums, 32 compilation albums, four box sets, 66 singles and three promotional singles. The Supremes are the most successful American group of all-time, and the 26th greatest artist of all time on the US Billboard charts; with 12 number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and three number-one albums on the Billboard 200. The Supremes were the first artist to accumulate five consecutive number-one singles on the US Hot 100 and the first female group to top the Billboard 200 albums chart with The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966). In 2017, Billboard ranked The Supremes as the number-one girl group of all-time, publishing, 'although there have been many girl group smashes in the decades since the Supremes ruled the Billboard charts, no collective has yet to challenge their, for lack of a better word, supremacy.' In 2019, the Official Charts Company placed 7 Supremes songs—"You Can't Hurry Love" (16), "Baby Love" (23), "Stop! In The Name Of Love" (56), "Where Did Our Love Go?" (59), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (78), "Come See About Me" (94) and "Stoned Love" (99)—on The Official Top 100 Motown songs of the Millennium chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all-time UK downloads and streams.
The Emotions are an American soul/R&B vocal group from Chicago. The group started out in gospel music but transitioned into R&B and disco music. The Emotions were named by VH1 as one of the 18 most influential girl groups of all time.
Stacy Lattisaw Jackson is an American R&B singer from Washington, D.C., United States.
The Miracles were the Motown Record Corporation's first group and its first million-selling recording artists. During their nineteen-year run on the American music charts, the Miracles charted over fifty hits and recorded in the genres of doo wop, soul, disco, and R&B. Twenty-six Miracles songs reached the top 10 of the Billboard R&B singles chart, including four R&B number ones. Sixteen of the Miracles' songs charted within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, with seven of those songs reaching the Top Ten and two – 1970's "The Tears of a Clown" and 1975's "Love Machine" – reaching number-one. A third song, the million-selling "Shop Around", reached #1 on the Cash Box magazine top 100 Pop chart. The Miracles also scored 11 U.S. R&B top 10 albums, including 2-#1's. According to several websites, the Miracles are one of the most oft-covered groups in recorded history and the most covered Motown group ever. Their music and songs have influenced artists all over the world – in every major musical genre – over the last 50 years. At #32, the Miracles are the highest-ranking Motown group on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time." They also have the distinction of having more songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame than any other Motown group. All releases were on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label unless otherwise indicated.
American singer Brandy Norwood entered the music business as a backing vocalist for R&B boy bands such as Immature, prior to launching her own career in 1994. Her discography, as a solo artist, includes seven studio albums, one compilation album, one extended play, 42 singles, 46 album appearances and 25 soundtrack appearances. Norwood has sold over 8.6 million albums in the United States, and more than 40 million records worldwide. Additionally, she has won over 100 awards as a recording artist. In 1999, Billboard ranked Norwood among the top 20 of the Top Pop Artists of the 1990s.
Leon Frank Sylvers III is an American singer, songwriter, disc-jockey, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the family group The Sylvers and became one of the most successful producers in black music in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s through his association with Dick Griffey's SOLAR Records. Artists such as J Dilla, Dr. Dre, and Madlib have sampled songs written and produced by him.
American singer Kelly Rowland has released four studio albums, two compilation albums and a box set, four extended plays, three video albums and DVDs, 45 official, featuring, charity and promotional singles, and 55 music videos. She began her career in 1997 with one of the best-selling girl groups, Destiny's Child, who have sold around 60 million records worldwide.
William L. Griffin is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson as lead singer of The Miracles in 1972.
The discography of American singer John Legend consists of eight full-length studio albums, five live albums, two video albums, three extended plays, 39 singles and two promotional singles.
Tha Carter IV is the ninth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on August 29, 2011, through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records. Recording sessions for the album began in late 2008, shortly after Lil Wayne's sixth studio album, Tha Carter III (2008) was released to strong sales and critical acclaim: however, the sessions were put on hold, as Lil Wayne claimed he did not want to follow an album he held in high regard so quickly with another, potentially inferior release. In the interim, Lil Wayne released his two other albums in 2010: the largely rock-themed Rebirth, and I Am Not a Human Being. The latter was reportedly composed from unreleased material from the original Tha Carter IV sessions, as the album was released whilst Wayne served a prison sentence at Rikers Island prison for illegal possession of a weapon, and was thus unable to record any new material: this also meant Tha Carter IV's recording sessions were once more put on hold.
Stacy Barthe is American songwriter, composer, and singer from Brooklyn, New York City.
"Lazy Love" is a song by American recording artist Ne-Yo, premiere online on May 14, 2012. It officially impacted Urban radio on May 29, 2012 and was released on June 12, 2012 by Motown Records for purchase as a digital download. It is the first single from his album R.E.D. The music video for the song premiered on June 11, 2012. The song peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. The music video was directed by Diane Martel.
Love in the Future is the fourth studio album by American singer John Legend. The album was released on August 30, 2013, by GOOD Music and Columbia Records. The album, executive produced by Legend, Kanye West and Dave Tozer, features guest appearances from Kimbra, Rick Ross, Stacy Barthe and Seal. The album was supported by four singles, "Who Do We Think We Are", "Made to Love", "All of Me" and "You & I ". Love in the Future received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number 4 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 68,000 copies in its first week.
Dapo Torimiro is a Nigerian songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. Born in Lagos, he has worked in the music industry in the US for several years writing and producing music for artists' album projects, touring with numerous artists, as well as scoring various television and film projects. He is based in Los Angeles.
Love, Marriage & Divorce is a collaborative studio album by American recording artists Toni Braxton and Babyface, released on February 4, 2014, by Motown Records. The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and as of July 2, 2014 the album had sold 211,000 copies in the U.S. The album won Best R&B Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)