Brooklyn-born songwriter/musician and CSA Los Angeles star Stacy Barthe, met up with Afro bD’Banj in London recently after a few days with David Guetta on his boat off Ibiza. A night out on the town with the CSA team included a Burna Boy album launch, also attended by actor Idris Elba and supermodel wife Sabrina Stacy and D’Banj.

In the mean time, when Stacy bumped into Beyoncé at rapper Nipsy Hussel’s funeral in LA in April, it led to her being invited to pen songs at a writing camp at Beyoncé’s studio – where songwriters & producers work together over a short period of time to come up with songs for a major new project.

The project? “The Lion King: The Gift”

And although Stacy – a daring & gifted artist – has written for and collaborated with numerous artists in the past – including Beyoncé, Hussel, Alicia Keys and Rihanna, for which she is Grammy-nominated – she had found herself in a broken space.

On her birthday, Stacey wrote (the day the album was also released): Dear Beyonce, I had given up on songwriting. You changed that for me when I reconnected with you at @nipseyhussle ‘s funeral. Life was taken and then given. This gift reminded me of why I do this. We’re part of something way bigger. 
Selected from literally 100s of songs, Stacy’s compositions, “Bigger” and “Brown Skin Girl” (which also includes SA’s Anatii on the credits) were chosen for “The Gift”. Six people are credited with writing “Bigger” – including Beyoncé – but the song began life due to Stacy’s extraordinary, inspiring lyrics, starting from line one: “If you feel insignificant, you better think again.”

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