"A Beautiful Soul" Lyrics

"A Beautiful Soul (Music Inspired By the Motion Picture)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

What happens when a modern gospel star writes the soundtrack to a film about an R&B singer who has lost his soul? A Beautiful Soul (Music Inspired By the Motion Picture) answers that by blurring the line between the life of its creator, Deitrick Haddon, and the fictional Andre Stephens he plays on screen.

The 2012 film A Beautiful Soul follows Andre, a successful but spiritually hollow R&B artist whose world collapses after a violent attack on his entourage. He’s thrown into a liminal, almost purgatorial journey where he has to confront his choices, his faith, and the people he hurt. The album does not just decorate that story; it acts as an extra layer of commentary, framing Andre’s fall and possible redemption in song form. Many tracks function as “songs from Andre’s world” that you could imagine playing at his concerts, on his tour bus, or in the church he left behind.

The record sits comfortably between contemporary gospel and R&B: hard-programmed drums, synth bass, and vocoder textures live next to choir hooks and call-and-response. There are club-adjacent bangers that would fit an R&B arena show and church-anchored songs that clearly belong to Andre’s spiritual roots. Across the length of the album you can hear a rough arc — early tracks bask in success and swagger, the middle leans into tension and emotional damage, and later songs turn decisively toward confession, church community, and restoration.

Stylistically, you can roughly divide the album into phases. The opening cuts lean toward glossy, radio-ready urban gospel with R&B polish — that language does the work of selling Andre’s star persona. Mid-album tunes fold in heavier synths and minor-key progressions that underline broken relationships and spiritual drift. By the end, the arrangements open up: more choir, more classic gospel voicings, a “church band on fire” feel. In simple terms, groove-heavy tracks signal the seduction of fame, futuristic textures hint at confusion and inner conflict, and full-on church jams represent the possibility of starting over.

How It Was Made

The soundtrack exists as an album in its own right and as a companion to the film. Deitrick Haddon wrote and performed most of the material, credited alongside his long-time choir/collective Voices of Unity. Tyscot Records released the album in April 2012, just ahead of the movie’s limited theatrical run in May. The packaging and marketing present it explicitly as “Music Inspired By the Motion Picture,” which gives Haddon freedom: not every song has to appear verbatim in the film to be canon.

Production-wise, the credits list Haddon together with producers such as Canton Jones, Jairus Mozee, Brian Taylor, and David Haddon. That mix of gospel and urban producers explains why some tracks sound close to straight R&B radio while others feel like Sunday-morning praise breaks translated into studio form. The record draws on the same sonic world as Haddon’s 2011 album Church on the Moon — lots of synths, vocal stacks, and drum-machine punch — but folds in guest features (like Faith Evans) to heighten the “celebrity R&B star” angle that the film needs.

Because the film is a faith-based drama with a modest budget, music does a lot of heavy lifting: instead of licensing expensive secular hits, the production leans into original songs that can work on screen and on Christian radio. In interviews, Haddon framed the project as a way to push gospel sonically toward mainstream pop and R&B while still centering spiritual themes. You feel that in the way hooks are written for replay value and streaming, not just for one-time use under dialogue.

From a workflow point of view, the “music inspired by” approach also means some songs were built to echo specific plot beats without needing to match exact on-screen timing. That choice makes the album more listenable front to back: it behaves less like stitched-together score cues and more like a concept album about fame, ego, loss, and grace.

Tracks & Scenes

There is no official public “song-by-scene” breakdown for A Beautiful Soul, so the placements below combine what can be confirmed (trailers, music videos, reviews) with how the film’s story and the songs line up. Think of them as guided connections rather than frame-accurate timings.

“No Betta” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Faith Evans
Where it plays: The track functions as Andre Stephens’ signature hit. In the film’s world it fits the shots of sold-out shows and flashy stage lighting you see in trailers and promotional clips — a groove that could easily be blasting over concert montages, club entrances, and limo rides. The funk-leaning production and Faith Evans’ feature vocal sell the idea that Andre has fully embraced crossover stardom.
Why it matters: Lyrically it talks about a love that’s “no better,” but visually it’s attached to Andre’s life at the top. That contrast becomes important later: the same charisma that packs venues also hides the emptiness he tries not to face.

“A Beautiful Soul” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Deitrick Haddon
Where it plays: This theme song shows up in the film’s marketing and in its own music video, which intercuts performance footage with story imagery. In narrative terms it belongs to Andre’s turning point: when he finally sees that underneath the ego and mess there is still something salvageable in him and in the people around him. You can place it over sequences of him revisiting memories, facing people he wronged, or standing in front of a congregation again after running for years.
Why it matters: The lyric about the goodness “bottled up inside” lines up directly with the film’s thesis that every broken person still carries a God-given spark. As a result the song ends up feeling like the movie’s sermon in miniature.

“This Church” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Charles Laster Jr.
Where it plays: The tone and title make this an obvious fit for church-set scenes: flashbacks to Andre’s choir days, services where his mother or mentors pray for him, or moments where he finally walks back into the sanctuary. Musically it sounds like what you might hear from a high-energy church band on a Sunday when the whole room is on its feet — call-and-response, choir shouts, a featured lead vocal pushing the crowd higher.
Why it matters: The film is about a prodigal musician, so the church is not just a location but a character. “This Church” gives that character a theme: loud, unapologetic, and stubbornly welcoming even when Andre does everything he can to run from it.

“Go to Church” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Bam & Jabrea
Where it plays: This track likely belongs to lighter or more playful beats in the story — friends teasing Andre about how far he has drifted, or a montage of people from different backgrounds making their way back to community. The blend of rap verses and a sing-along hook lends itself to scenes with movement: driving shots, kids dancing in the aisles, neighborhood energy around the church building.
Why it matters: It turns what could be a guilt-laden message (“you should be in church”) into an invitation wrapped in a head-nod beat. That tone is important for a film trying to speak to audiences who might be wary of preachiness.

“Never Hurt Again” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Sean Hardin & Jor’el Quinn
Where it plays: In story terms, this belongs to Andre’s emotional rock bottom — scenes after betrayal, loss, or the attack that leaves him hanging between life and death. You can imagine it over slow-motion shots of hospital corridors, empty arenas, or loved ones sitting by a bedside. Vocally, the features deepen the sense that more than one character is carrying scars into these moments.
Why it matters: The lyric focus on not wanting to be hurt again speaks both to romantic and spiritual disappointment. For a character who associated faith with pain and hypocrisy, that tension is a major barrier to change.

“Incomplete” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Adia
Where it plays: This mid-tempo cut fits scenes where Andre confronts the gap between who he wanted to be and who he has become. Think mirror moments, late-night hotel-room silence, or conversations with the “guides” he meets on his spiritual journey. The introspective tone and duet structure make it easy to map onto dialogue-heavy sequences where truth finally gets spoken aloud.
Why it matters: “Incomplete” is one of the clearest musical statements of brokenness on the album. It prepares the ground for later tracks that dare to talk about wholeness again.

“Running to You” — Deitrick Haddon
Where it plays: This song logically underpins Andre’s decision to turn back toward God. If you picture a montage of him walking away from toxic environments, confessing, or re-entering church life even with fear in his eyes, “Running to You” provides the emotional score. The melody pushes forward, like someone literally leaning into a headwind, which suits the story’s late-stage urgency.
Why it matters: On the album, it marks a pivot from talking about pain to describing pursuit. Dramatically, that’s the difference between a character stuck in regret and one finally moving.

“The More I Praise” — Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity feat. Jason Champion & Canton Jones
Where it plays: This is celebration music — the kind of cut that could score end-credits, a final church scene where Andre leads worship again, or a big ensemble moment where multiple characters get a share of the spotlight. Rap features help keep it connected to Andre’s “cool” world so that the happy ending doesn’t feel like a complete departure from where he started.
Why it matters: Structurally, the track works as the “victory lap” after the internal war is won. It’s the sonic equivalent of those last shots where everyone is hugging, smiling, and walking out of the church into daylight.

Trailer music and non-album cues
The main trailer for A Beautiful Soul leans heavily on pieces of the title track and other Haddon material rather than mainstream licensed songs, which keeps the focus on him as both film star and musical author. There is no evidence of big outside hits in the film or its marketing, making this project more self-contained than many contemporary faith-based dramas.

Notes & Trivia

• The album is explicitly billed as “Music Inspired By the Motion Picture,” so it functions partly as in-world music for Andre Stephens and partly as spiritual commentary around him.
• Deitrick Haddon not only stars in the film and co-writes the script; he also serves as principal songwriter, on-screen performer, and one of the album’s producers.
• The movie itself is a contemporary, urban-gospel spin on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with Andre’s near-death experience standing in for Scrooge’s ghostly visitations.
• “No Betta,” the lead single featuring Faith Evans, charted on the U.S. Hot Gospel Songs list and did extra work promoting both film and record to mainstream R&B listeners.
• The album appears in both standard and “Deluxe” digital versions; the latter adds a couple of extra tracks and extends the playtime to just under an hour.
• Several tracks — including “This Church,” “Go to Church,” and “A Beautiful Soul” — later circulated separately on gospel radio and streaming playlists, detached from the film context.
• For many listeners, the album arrived before they ever saw the movie, so the songs effectively shaped expectations of the plot and Andre’s personality.

Music–Story Links

The cleanest way to understand how the soundtrack talks to the story is to watch how it mirrors Andre Stephens’ journey. Early in the narrative he’s a fully branded R&B superstar, so songs like “No Betta” and other uptempo cuts feel like his public soundtrack — the world hears the confidence, not the cracks. Those tracks lean into swagger, hooks, and guest features, just like a real R&B act trying to keep its chart momentum.

Once tragedy hits and Andre enters that in-between spiritual space, the tone changes. Mid-album songs such as “Never Hurt Again” and “Incomplete” (and the more minor-key corners of the record) sound closer to internal monologue than stage set. They slow the tempo, widen the reverb, and leave more room for vocals to sit almost naked in the mix. In plot terms these are the moments where he faces the people he used, the faith he abandoned, and the emptiness behind his success.

By the time you reach “Running to You,” “This Church,” and “The More I Praise,” the arc is clear: Andre’s world has moved from private pain back toward community and surrender. Musically, choirs come forward, guest verses feel less self-promotional and more like shared testimony, and production choices lean into classic gospel triumph. It’s not subtle, but for this kind of film it doesn’t need to be — the record translates plot beats into very readable musical shifts.

Interestingly, because the album exists independently, you can also invert the relationship: for some fans the songs came first, and the film simply supplied visuals for narratives they already attached to the tracks. In that sense A Beautiful Soul behaves more like a concept album that got a film adaptation than a film that later received an obligatory soundtrack.

Reception & Quotes

The film A Beautiful Soul drew a mixed response from critics, with some praising its intentions and others criticizing its pacing and low-budget execution. The album, however, generally fared better among gospel and inspirational-music reviewers. One gospel site described it as a project that “perfectly suits the storyline” while carrying over the futuristic, synth-heavy approach of Haddon’s earlier records. Another reviewer compared Haddon’s melodic and theatrical instincts to Prince, noting how comfortable he sounds in both funk-leaning and worship-leaning modes.

Among church-focused outlets and blogs, the soundtrack was often treated as the real selling point of the project: posts highlighted the radio single “No Betta,” the title song “A Beautiful Soul,” and the heavy-church cut “This Church” as immediate standouts, with comments that the record could live on even if you never found a local theatrical screening of the movie.

“The companion soundtrack to A Beautiful Soul perfectly suits the storyline with a primarily futuristic tone.” — summary of a soul/gospel review

“Haddon has assembled an ambitious twelve-song set of songs inspired by the movie and its theme.” — observation from a gospel-culture blog

Commercially, the project remained a niche success compared to mainstream soundtracks, but within contemporary gospel it reinforced Haddon’s reputation for pushing into pop and R&B territory without dropping overt spiritual language. The album continues to surface on Christian and inspirational playlists, especially the title track and “No Betta.”

Interesting Facts

• The CD packaging and some retailer listings simply call it “A Beautiful Soul — Music Inspired by the Motion Picture,” but digital services make the Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity credit prominent.
• Retail blurbs routinely flag “No Betta,” “New Life,” “Go to Church,” “This Church,” and “A Beautiful Soul” as standout tracks instead of pushing one obvious “theme song.”
• Because the album is not a straight “music from the film” release, you can hear songs that never appear in full on screen but still deepen the narrative world.
• Faith Evans’ feature on “No Betta” quietly links the project to a long line of R&B singers crossing into faith-adjacent soundtrack work.
• Some Christian press at the time ran theater listings for A Beautiful Soul right next to CD purchase links, treating the soundtrack as part of the same outreach push.
• Haddon had already starred in another faith-based film, Blessed & Cursed, with its own soundtrack; A Beautiful Soul builds on that template but leans further into glossy urban production.
• The soundtrack later became easier to access than the film itself, especially outside the U.S., which shifted the project’s legacy toward the music.
• Several songs from the album later reappeared in live worship settings, essentially escaping their original “movie” frame and becoming standalone church favorites.

Technical Info

• Title: A Beautiful Soul (Music Inspired By the Motion Picture)
• Year of release: 2012
• Type: Music Inspired By / soundtrack-style studio album for the film A Beautiful Soul (2012)
• Primary artist: Deitrick Haddon & Voices of Unity
• Key composer / songwriter: Deitrick Haddon (lead writer and performer across the project)
• Producers: Deitrick Haddon, Canton Jones, Brian Taylor, David Haddon, Jairus Mozee (among others credited on physical releases)
• Label: Tyscot Records (sometimes listed as Tys / Tyscot)
• Length: Approx. 46 minutes (standard edition, 12 tracks); around 54 minutes (deluxe digital edition, 14 tracks)
• Core genres: Contemporary gospel, urban gospel, R&B, inspirational
• Connected film: A Beautiful Soul (2012), directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd, starring Deitrick Haddon as Andre Stephens
• Notable songs: “No Betta” (feat. Faith Evans & Deitrick Haddon), “A Beautiful Soul,” “This Church,” “Go to Church,” “Running to You,” “Never Hurt Again”
• Release context: Album street date in April 2012; film released theatrically in select AMC theaters in early May 2012 with DVD following later that month.
• Availability: Widely available on major streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music) and on CD via gospel retailers and general online marketplaces.
• Chart notes: Lead single “No Betta” reached the U.S. Hot Gospel Songs chart; overall album performance remained primarily within gospel-market charts and radio rotations.

Questions & Answers

Is A Beautiful Soul a true “original motion picture soundtrack” or just songs inspired by the film?

Officially it is branded as “Music Inspired By the Motion Picture.” That means the songs grow out of the film’s themes and story world, but the track sequence is designed as a coherent studio album rather than a strict scene-by-scene cue list.

Do all the songs on the album appear in the movie?

No. Some songs are clearly tied to on-screen performance and church scenes, but others function more as reflections or extensions of the story. The record gives you more emotional angles than the film’s runtime can fit.

What role does Faith Evans play on the soundtrack?

Faith Evans guests on “No Betta,” the lead single. Her presence helps frame Andre Stephens as a credible R&B star within the film’s universe and connects the project to mainstream R&B audiences.

How does the soundtrack compare to Deitrick Haddon’s earlier album Church on the Moon?

Sonically they share a lot: heavy synths, programmed drums, and pop-leaning hooks. The difference is framing — Church on the Moon is a pure artist album, while A Beautiful Soul keeps looping back to a specific character and film narrative.

Can you enjoy the album without seeing the movie?

Yes. The songs tell a recognizable mini-story about fame, brokenness, and spiritual return even if you never watch the film. Knowing the plot adds layers, but the record stands up as a contemporary gospel/R&B project on its own.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: label and retailer album pages; gospel review outlets; artist interviews and press blurbs around the 2012 film; Christian and urban-gospel news blogs; discographic notes for “No Betta” and related singles.

November, 16th 2025