Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
NME	6/10
Pitchfork Media	6.9/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	9/10
The Village Voice	B

Sea Change is the fifth official studio album and eighth overall by American alternative rock artist Beck, released on September 24, 2002. Recorded over a two-month period at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles with producer Nigel Godrich, the collection includes themes of heartbreak and desolation, solitude and loneliness. "Lost Cause" and "Guess I'm Doing Fine" were released as singles.

For the record, much of Beck's trademark recondite and ironic lyrics were replaced by more sincere, simpler lyrical content. He also eschewed the heavy sampling of his previous albums for live instrumentation. When interviewed, Beck cited the breakup with his longtime girlfriend as the major influence on the album. Sea Change peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200, later being certified gold in March 2005 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The album received positive critical acclaim, and it has continued to grow in stature since its release, featuring in several 'best of the decade' and 'best of all-time' lists. Reviewers praised the change in style from sonically experimental to simple and emotional.

Upon completion of touring for his previous effort, Midnite Vultures (1999), Beck and his fiancée, stylist Leigh Limon, ended their nine-year relationship. Three weeks before Beck's 30th birthday, he discovered Limon had been cheating on him with a member of Los Angeles-based band Whiskey Biscuit. Beck lapsed into a period of melancholy and introspection, during which he wrote the bleak, acoustic-based tracks later found on Sea Change. He wrote most of the album's 12 songs in one week, but then shelved them. "Songs sit in my head for a while," he told Time in 2002. "I have dozens in there, songs from eight years ago that I've written but never recorded. After a while, I just sort of decide to record them." Beck also strayed from the songs to keep from talking about his personal life, as well as to focus on music and "not really strew my baggage across the public lobby." Eventually, however, he found the songs speak to an experience (a relationship breakup) that is common, and that it would not seem self-indulgent to record them. In 2001, Beck drifted back to the songs and called his frequent producer, Nigel Godrich.

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