Becoming (Stacy Barthe album)

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.

BEcoming
Creative Direction & Design by Joe Perez
Studio album by Stacy Barthe
Released	July 10, 2015
Genre	r&b soul
Length	62:59
Label	Motown Homeschool
Producer	John Legend (exec.) Malay (exec.) Stacy Barthe (exec.) Eddie Blackmon (exec.) Hit-Boy Oren Yoel DJ Camper Ran Pink Dirty Harry James Poyser Benny Cassette The ClassMatez
Stacy Barthe chronology
P.S. I Love You (2013) BEcoming (2015) FKA Stacy Barthe (2016)
Singles from BEcoming
"War IV Love" Released: March 18, 2014 "Flawed Beautiful Creatures" Released: December 15, 2014 "Angel" Released: December 23, 2014 "Live For Today" Released: January 15, 2015 "You Wonder Why?" Released: June 29, 2015

Release and promotion

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]

Singles

"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]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

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]

Year-end lists

Publication	List	Year	Ref.
BET	The Best R&B Albums of 2015	2015	[15]
WDET	New Soul Sunday's Best of 2015	2015	[16]

Legacy

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]

Track listing

Album credits adapted from Tidal.^[18]

BEcoming track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"My Suicide Note (Intro)"	Stacy Barthe Chauncey Hollis James Ryan Ho	Hit-Boy Malay[a]	2:28
2.	"In My Head"	Barthe Oren Kleinman	Oren Yoel	3:00
3.	"Sleep to Dream"	Barthe Ho Josiah Bashta	Malay	3:43
4.	"Eyes Wide Shut"	Barthe[b] Ho	Malay	3:33
5.	"Here I Am"	Barthe Ho Corey Gibson Jesse Woodard John Stephens Joi Campbell	Malay	4:00
6.	"Me Versus Me"	Barthe Darhyl Camper Jr. Claude Kelly	DJ Camper	4:18
7.	"Find It (Transition)"	Barthe Ran Pink	Ran Pink	4:33
8.	"Live For Today" (feat. Common)	Barthe Benedetto Rotondi Karla Elie Lonnie Rashid Lynn	Ran Pink[c]	3:46
9.	"Flawed Beautiful Creatures (Summer Version)"	Barthe Camper Jr.	DJ Camper	3:12
10.	"Hey You There"	Barthe Ho Edward Blackmon Ronnie Tucker Shane Abrahams	Malay	3:22
11.	"Walk On Water"	Barthe Ho	Malay	2:35
12.	"Born to Belong (Interlude)"	Barthe Ho	Malay	3:03
13.	"War IV Love (Spring Version)"	Barthe Ho	Malay	3:42
14.	"Angel" (feat. John Legend)	Patrick Moten[d] Sandra Sully[d]	Dirty Harry James Poyser	3:05
15.	"You Wonder Why?"	Barthe Rotondi Blackmon Abrahams	Benny Cassette	3:50
16.	"In the Meantime"	Barthe Pink	Ran Pink	4:21
17.	"Enough Is Enough..."	Barthe Darnell Brock Frankie Page Jr. Sharone Scott Timothy Prater	The ClassMatez	6:28
Total length:				62:59

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer

Sample credits

• ^{^[b]} "Here I Am" contains samples of "Drink My Pain Away", as written by Stacy Barthe, Jesse Woodard IV, Joi Nicole Campbell & Corey Gibson.^[19]
• ^{^[c]} "Live For Today" contains an interpolation of "Mas que Nada", as written and performed by Jorge Ben.^[19]
• ^{^[d]} "Angel" is a cover of "Angel", as written by Anita Baker, Patrick Moten & Sandra Sully; and contains a drum beat from "Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz", as performed by Biz Markie.^[6][19]

Personnel

Personnel credits adapted from the liner notes of BEcoming.^[19]

Studios

Recording locations

The Studio (Los Angeles, CA) The Boom Boom Room (Burbank, CA) Yoelian's Chambers (Los Angeles, CA) KMA Studios (New York, NY) Fonogenic Studios (Van Nuys, CA) The Pentagon (Silver Lake, CA)

4220 Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Capitol Studios (Hollywood, CA) Homeschool Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Germano Studios (New York, NY) Glenwood Studios (Burbank, CA) Studio for the Talented and Gifted (Los Angeles, CA)

Mixing & mastering locations

Larrabee Sound Studios (North Hollywood, CA) Jinju Sounds (Hoboken, NJ)

Sterling Sound (New York, NY)

Vocals

Stacy Barthe – main artist Common – featured artist (track 8) John Legend – featured artist (track 14)

Iris Belson – backing vocals (track 3) Joseph Walker – backing vocals (track 3) Ro James – backing vocals (track 13)

Musicians

Malay – guitar (tracks 3–5, 10–13), bass (tracks 3–5, 10–13), keyboards (tracks 3–5, 10–13) Joseph Walker – guitar (track 3) Tykie Irby – guitar (track 17), bass (track 17) Matt Chamberlain – drums (tracks 1, 3, 12, 13) Charles LA Harper – percussion (tracks 3, 5, 15) Chris Arceneaux – percussion (tracks 3, 5, 15)

Fall of Ai Chamber Orchestra – strings (tracks 1, 4) Geoff Gallegos – saxophone (tracks 3, 8) Shaunte Palmer – trombone (tracks 3, 8) Jamelle Williams - trumpet (tracks 3, 8) Darhyl Camper Jr. – piano (track 6) Jeff Babko – piano (track 6)

Production

Stacy Barthe – executive production John Legend – executive production Malay – executive production, production (tracks 1, 3–5, 10–13), co-production (track 1) Eddie Blackmon – executive production Hit-Boy – production (track 1) Oren Yoel – production (track 2)

DJ Camper – production (tracks 6, 9) Ran Pink – production (tracks 7, 8, 16) Dirty Harry – production (track 14) James Poyser – production (track 14) Benny Cassette – production (track 15) The ClassMatez – production (track 17)

Technical

Malay – recording engineer (tracks 1, 3–5, 10–13), programming (tracks 1, 4, 5, 10–12) Oren Kleinman – recording engineer (track 2) Michael Piazza – recording engineer (track 6) Ran Pink – recording engineer (tracks 7, 16) Benny Cassette – recording engineer (tracks 8, 15) Michael Thomas – recording engineer (track 8) Joe Napolitano – recording engineer (track 9) James Caruana – recording engineer (track 14)

Jacob Dennis – additional engineering (track 14) Jason Agel – mixing (track 9), recording engineer (track 14) Manny Marroquin – mixing (tracks 1–8, 10–17) Chris Galland – mix assistant (tracks 1–8, 10–17) Ike Schultz – mix assistant (tracks 1–8, 10–12, 14–17) Delbert Bowers – mix assistant (track 13) Chris Gehringer – mastering Dave Kutch – mastering

Management

Eddie Blackmon – a&r, management Rex Rideout – a&r Elizabeth Isik – a&r admin Terese Joseph – a&r admin

A Shade of Red Entertainment – management Lynn M. Scott – marketing coordinator Wealth Management Associates – business management Myman Greenspan Fineman/Fox Rosenberg & Light LLP – legal

Design

Joe R. Perez[20] – creative direction & design Jenna Marsh – art direction

Geo Owen – assistant graphic design Pavel Paratov – animation

Charts

Chart performance for BEcoming

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

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label	Catalog #	Ref.
Worldwide	July 10, 2015 (2015-07-10)	digital download • streaming	Motown • Homeschool • Universal	B0021473-02	[1]
		CD	Motown		[25]

References

1. "BEcoming by Stacy Barthe on Apple Music". Apple Music. Apple Inc. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
2. Platon, Adelle. "Keep Ya Head Up With This Sampler of Stacy Barthe's BEcoming LP". VIBE. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
3. Williams, Gabriel. "Singer/Songwriter Stacy Barthe Releases New Short Film 'BEcoming'". SFPL. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
4. Marley, Zuri. "Stacy Barthe Has A Hit With New Single 'War IV Love'". Okayplayer. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
5. "Stacy Barthe Discography". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
6. Golding, Shenequa. "Stacy Barthe Does Anita Baker Justice With Her Remake of 'Angel'". VIBE. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
7. Nostro, Lauren. "Premiere: Listen to Stacy Barthe's 'Live For Today' f/ Common". COMPLEX. Complex Networks. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
8. "Stacy Barthe Chart History (Adult R&B Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
9. Kellman, Andy. "BEcoming - AllMusic Review". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
10. Carroll, Jim. "Stacy Barthe: BEcoming Album Review". The Irish Times. The Irish Times DAC. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
11. "Album Review: Stacy Barthe's Debut Album BEcoming". YMMW. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
12. Carter, Bobby. "Review: Stacy Barthe, BEcoming". npr music. National Public Radio. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
13. Mitchell, Gail. "Stacy Barthe, Songwriter for Rihanna and Katy Perry, Talks Motown Debut BEcoming". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
14. "Listen: Stacy Barthe Previews Debut Album BEcoming With Full Album Stream". ThisIsRnB. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
15. "The Best R&B Albums of 2015". BET. ViacomCBS. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
16. Austin, Nick. "New Soul Sunday's Best of 2015 Playlist". WDET-FM. WSU. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
17. Arnold, Chuck (18 March 2020). "10 Albums to Crank Up While Coronavirus Has You Stuck at Home". New York Post. News Corp. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
18. "Stacy Barthe / BEcoming / Credits". Tidal. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
19. BEcoming. Motown (CD liner). Stacy Barthe. Los Angeles: Capitol Music Group. 2015. B0021473-02.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
20. "BEcoming Album Packaging". Joe R. Perez Studio. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
21. "Stacy Barthe Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
22. "Stacy Barthe Chart History (Top Current Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
23. ""Stacy Barthe Chart History (Top R&B Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
24. "Stacy Barthe Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
25. "BEcoming CD". Discogs. Release Code: [r8613738]. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

External links

• BEcoming at Discogs