How Miley Cyrus Convinced Stacy Barthe to Give Her ‘Adore You’ Song
Miley Cyrus’s song “Adore You,” the first track on her Bangerz album, was not originally intended for the pop star. Soul singer-songwriter Stacy Barthe penned the ballad for herself, and planned to include it on one of her projects, but Cyrus was determined to record the ballad.
“It was supposed to be the first track on [my EP] P.S. I Love, and when Miley heard it she was like, 'Um, I need that,’” Barthe explains during an exclusive interview with Yahoo Music. “And then I was like, 'Babe, it’s the first song on my EP.’ So she doubled back with the producer, they cut it on their own, and she let me hear it. And she was like, 'Before you shoot me down, just hear it.’ And she killed it, so I was like, ‘Anybody who’s going to go through that much trouble to get the song, babe, you can have it.”
Barthe has no regrets about giving the song to Cyrus. Songwriting comes easy for the Brooklyn-bred artist, who scored her first professional opportunity while working as an intern for Jive Records when she was a student at St. John’s University.
After collaborating with Hit-Boy, Barthe gradually built a discography with credits for Rihanna, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Brandy. She eventually turned a collection of her unused songs into her 2011 debut EP, Sincerely Yours, Stacy Barthe, and put out additional sets.
Listeners can hear Barthe’s evolution on her forthcoming Motown release, BEcoming, which features a duet with John Legend, who is also a co-executive producer. The production transcends traditional R&B to include a sophisticated blend of classical, rock, folk, and pop music that at times is reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Sade, Tracy Chapman, Bjork, and India.Arie.
The lyrical content, however, deals with the heavy issue of self-esteem. Barthe recounts a suicide attempt on opening track, “My Suicide Note”; grapples with insecurities elsewhere; and eventually moves to a better place on “Find It,” which urges her audience to “find a new way to live.” She takes an equally uplifting perspective on “Beautifully Flawed Creatures,” which is also the theme song of the television show Being Mary Jane starring Gabrielle Union.
Barthe tells Yahoo Music that her healing was self-paced, and explains how she found the courage to literally strip down to her underwear for a revealing feature for Style Like U’s “What’s Underneath” interview series.
Watch the entire interview above.
