| The Intro | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| EP by | ||||
| Released | November 27, 2015 | |||
| Recorded | 2015 | |||
| Length | 16:26 | |||
| Label | Columbia [1] | |||
| Producer | Ruth B | |||
| Ruth B chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The Intro | ||||
| ||||
The Intro is the debut EP by Canadian singer/songwriter Ruth B. [2] It was released on November 27, 2015, [3] and was met with generally positive reviews. [4] [5]
Ruth B had initially gained popularity by posting six-second snippets of her singing on Vine; she was encouraged by her fans to write a full-length song, so she wrote "Lost Boy", which ended up being her first hit. [5] [6] The song entered the Top 100 of the iTunes chart "with no promotion", and B began receiving offers for recording contracts from various record labels. She signed to Columbia Records and shortly after began recording music for "The Intro." [5] [7] B stated in an interview with Rookie that being signed "felt really validating and cool that people in the business thought that I could do it, not just my friends and family." [7]
Ruth B began writing music after being signed to her record label; she stated that she wanted to take an "honest, real, and vulnerable" approach when writing the music. [7] Ruth B self-produced her entire EP, [7] and wrote 14 songs for the EP, selecting 4 to be included on the release. [3] Three of the EP's songs ("Lost Boy", "Golden", and "2 Broke Kids") were written prior to Ruth B's signing to the record label; she wrote "Superficial Love" shortly after being signed. The EP was recorded in two days at a music studio in Brooklyn. [8]
The album was released as an MP3 on 27 November 2015, and re-released on CD in 2016, following the success of "Lost Boy". [9]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic [5] |   |
Andy Kellman, writing for AllMusic, calls the lyrics "elegant and direct" and concludes that the EP is "all aching love songs that are nonetheless comforting." [5]
The EP debuted at number 20 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart. [10] and number 52 on the US Billboard 200. [11] The Intro also reached number 7 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. [12]
Adapted from AllMusic. All songs written by Ruth B. [3]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Marsha Ambrosius-Billups is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album Late Nights & Early Mornings in March 2011. She also has a brother, Marvin Ambrosius, a television presenter in the United Kingdom.
Ke'Tara Shavon "Keke" Wyatt is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. After performing in a number of girl bands and working as a songwriter during her teenage years, in 2000 she garnered national attention after her successful collaboration with fellow R&B singer Avant, In 2001 her rendition of "Nothing in This World" led to a nomination for the Best New R&B/Soul/Rap Artist award at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. After a number of charting collaborations and solo releases, in 2012 she starred as a cast member in TV One's R&B Divas: Atlanta, which featured the lives of five 1990s chart-topping R&B singers. She was featured in all 3 seasons of the show. She also performed with the group at events such as Essence Music Festival.
Richard Preston Butler Jr., better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, Georgia, worked his way into the music industry through connections with Usher, who would become one of Love's frequent collaborators.
Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her ethereal vocal style and evocative lyricism. Aiko embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in music videos for R&B group B2K. In an effort to promote and cultivate a following for her, she was marketed as B2K member Lil' Fizz's cousin; she is not actually related to him. In 2003, Aiko was set to release her debut album, My Name Is Jhené, through her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic; however, the album was never released, and Aiko asked to be released from the label in order to continue her education.
Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams is the second studio album by American R&B singer and songwriter Solange. It was released on August 26, 2008, by Geffen Records. Solange was heavily influenced by the "Motown Sound" of the 1960s and 1970s prior to the album's recording, prompting her to work with several like-minded producers and songwriters such as Jack Splash, CeeLo Green, Mark Ronson, and Lamont Dozier, formerly of Motown's Holland–Dozier–Holland. The production also incorporated elements of downbeat and electronic music that Solange had familiarized herself with on previous trips to Europe, while the songwriting explored themes of independence.
Priscilla Renea Hamilton, known professionally as Muni Long, is an American singer and songwriter. Under her birth name, her solo debut studio album, Jukebox, was released through Capitol Records in 2009. She then spent the following decade co-writing songs for other recording artists, including the singles "California King Bed" by Rihanna, "Worth It" by Fifth Harmony, "Love So Soft" by Kelly Clarkson, "Imagine" by Ariana Grande, and the global chart-topper "Timber" by Pitbull featuring Kesha.
Kandi Koated is the second studio album by American R&B recording artist Kandi Burruss, released on December 14, 2010 in the United States on her independent label Kandi Koated Entertainment and Asylum Records. The album features production from Kandi amongst others including Jazze Pha, Ne-Yo, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Drumma Boy. Kandi promoted the album with her debut EP, Fly Above EP, released on October 29, 2009. The first single "Leave U" has reached number 89 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart The U.S. iTunes Store had a deluxe edition available for pre-order with 3 bonus tracks.
True is the first extended play (EP) by American recording artist Solange, first released on November 27, 2012 digitally through Terrible Records. Following the release of her second studio album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (2008), Solange announced that she had parted ways with Interscope Geffen A&M after releasing just one album on the label, and further revealed that she had chosen to go an independent route, eventually signing with Terrible Records. In 2009, Solange began the recording of a studio album, during which she suffered a "breakdown" due to the amount of time and emotion she was putting into the recording process.
Solána Imani Rowe, known professionally as SZA, is an American singer and songwriter. Born in St. Louis and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, she began making music in the early 2010s, releasing two extended plays, See.SZA.Run (2012) and S (2013), before signing with the hip hop record label Top Dawg Entertainment, through which she released Z (2014), her third EP and first retail release. That same year, she co-wrote "Feeling Myself" with Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. In 2016, she was featured on Rihanna's song "Consideration".
Seandrea Sledge, better known by her stage name Dreezy, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She signed with Interscope Records in 2014 where she released the studio albums No Hard Feelings (2016) and Big Dreez (2019). In 2020, she split from the label and released Hitgirl (2022), a collaboration album with Hit-Boy.
Charlene is the third studio album by American singer Tweet. It was released on February 26, 2016, by eOne Music. "Won't Hurt Me" was released on September 21, 2015, as the album's lead single. The second single "Magic" was released on January 21, 2016, followed by "Neva Shouda Left Ya" on February 11, 2016. Rolling Stone listed Charlene as the 12th best R&B album of 2016.
Crash & Burn is the debut studio album by American singer Traci Braxton. eOne and Soul World released the album October 7, 2014. Braxton had previously released music with her sisters as part of the group The Braxtons. Cliff Jones and David Lindsey were the album's executive producers. Crash & Burn is a R&B album, which Braxton said had influences from adult contemporary music. Critics thought the songs focused on love but Braxton clarified that the lyrics dealt with her attempts to start a solo music career.
Ruth Berhe, better known by her stage name Ruth B., is a Canadian singer and songwriter from Edmonton, Alberta. She started by singing songs on Vine in early 2013. In November 2015, she released her debut extended play The Intro. On May 5, 2017, she released her debut album Safe Haven. It has gathered over 1.96 billion overall streams on Spotify as of March 2023. Her single "Lost Boy" has accumulated over 745 million streams on Spotify, and her YouTube channel has received a total of 526 million views as of December 2022.
"Lost Boy" is the debut single by Canadian singer Ruth B. It was released on February 12, 2015. She first released it by singing a six-second video on Vine in January 2015.
Zachary Stephen Williams is an American Christian rock artist from Jonesboro, Arkansas. From 2007 through 2012 he was a member and lead vocalist of Zach Williams & The Reformation. He was also the lead singer of the Christian group Brothers of Grace, renamed as Zach Williams and the Brothers of Grace. In 2016 he went solo.
Ella Mai Howell is an English singer and songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of The X Factor. In 2015, she uploaded a four-track solo EP of originals to SoundCloud titled Troubled, and was discovered on social media by American record producer Mustard and signed with his record label, 10 Summers Records.
Safe Haven is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Ruth B. Released on May 5, 2017, when she was 21, the album garnered highly positive reviews and has been certified gold by Music Canada. Two of the songs from her debut extended play The Intro are included in the album. Those are "Lost Boy" and "Superficial Love", though the production for "Superficial Love" is different from that of the EP. The album was produced by Joel Little, Mike Elizondo and Ruth Berhe.
H.E.R. is a compilation album by American singer H.E.R., released on October 20, 2017, by RCA Records. The album comprises songs from the singer's EPs H.E.R., Vol. 1 (2016) and H.E.R., Vol. 2 (2017), and includes six additional songs. The album won Best R&B Album and received four other nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist for H.E.R.
David Debrandon Brown, professionally known as Lucky Daye, is an American singer-songwriter from New Orleans. He is signed to Keep Cool Records and RCA Records. He released his first EP, I on November 9, 2018 and his second EP, II on February 6, 2019. The EPs were part of a series leading up to his debut studio album Painted which was released on May 24, 2019. His third EP, Table for Two, won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album. His second album, Candydrip, was released on March 10, 2022.
Summer Marjani Walker is an American R&B singer. In 2017, she signed to Love Renaissance and Interscope Records. The following year, she released her mixtape Last Day of Summer, which spawned the single "Girls Need Love", that became her first top 40 entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart following a remix featuring Drake. In October 2019, Walker released her debut studio album Over It, which spawned the US top 20 single "Playing Games".