Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea Lyrics

- Release date: January 2010 -

The Sea is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, released 20 January 2010 on EMI. It is the follow-up to her eponymous debut album and was conceived following her hiatus from recording, taken in the wake of her husband Jason Rae's death. Production for the album took place at Limefield Studios in Manchester, England during 2009 and was handled by Rae, Steve Brown, and Steve Chrisanthou.

Incorporating musical elements of folk, pop, jazz, and rock music, The Sea features songs written by Rae both before and after her husband's death with themes of love, lament, and solace. In an interview with NME, Bailey Rae discussed process of making music, particularly the song "Are You Here", which deals with her grief over her husband's death, stating "I feel like I've been playing music and writing and using music to help me with all the different emotions that I've been feeling. When I started writing that I was thinking, 'I don't really want this song to go into the world, 'cause it's so naked…' But I had to". In an interview with The Observer's Sean O'Hagan, Rae discussed the effects of her husband's death on her musical style and the songs written before and after her hiatus, stating "What surprises me most is how the songs I wrote before it happened resonate almost as much as the ones I wrote after. The circumstances have cast it all in a different light. It began as a 'before and after' record, but it's become an 'after' record". On the song "I Would Like to Call it Beauty", Rae discussed its theme of finding beauty in the "darkest times" and its relationship with The Sea, stating "There is something miraculous that pushes you along, makes you keep going, makes you carry on. It's really about the mystery of that. In fact, the whole album is about that in a way; it's about loss but it's also about hope, about keeping going and trying to find that beauty".

Three singles were released in promotion of the album. Its first single "I'd Do It All Again" was released 12 January 2010. The album's second single, "Paris Nights/New York Mornings", was released 29 March 2010. It spent three weeks on the Japan Hot 100, peaking at number 31. "Closer" was issued to radio on 25 January 2010 in the United States. It spent 15 weeks and peaked at number 31 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and it spent six weeks and peaked at number 20 on the US Jazz Songs chart. "Closer" was released as the album's third single on 2 August 2010.

The album debuted at number five on the UK Albums Chart, selling 22,914 copies in its first week. It also entered at number seven on the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 53,000 copies. Upon its release, The Sea received generally positive reviews from most music critics. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry in February 2010, following shipments of 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. As of April 2010, the album has sold 156,000 copies in the United States. It has been nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize, which is awarded annually for the best album in the UK or Ireland.