The album was produced by Gregg Wattenberg, Dereck Fuhrmann and Phillip Phillips, and was recorded in New York City. Upon the development of the album, Phillips discussed the concept of the album at the Billboard Music Awards red carpet:
"It' so much more mature," I got to spend some more time on it. It's a little more on the rock side, which is me and how I represent it when I play live." "I wanted to keep it the same because they know how I like to write," the 23-year-old says. "We worked so well together. It's very organic and it's not getting all these writers to come in, 'We need a big pop song.' That's not how it is. It's an album as a whole, not just singles." - Phillip Phillips
Release and promotion
Both Standard and Deluxe Editions became available on May 19, 2014. Universal MusicSouth Africa released a South African Special Tour Edition to celebrate Phillips touring South Africa with The Script in February 2015.
Singles
"Raging Fire", the lead single was released on March 3, 2014. The song speaks about "the power of love" and as described by Phillips "it's just a song wanting to feel those butterflies, you know you love and you know the first time you kissed that person" he says in an interview with Access Hollywood. The song was later solicited to Adult Album Alternative radio on March 17, 2014. The song received critical acclaim by most music critics who praised Phillips vocals. He performed the song live on various TV shows, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, American Idol and on Conan. The music video for "Raging Fire" premiered on Vevo on April 10. Before its release, Phillips stated that he and his writers just wrote the song a week prior to the release. On April 22, "Fly" was released as a promotional single. The second single from the album is "Unpack Your Heart".
Critical reception
Behind the Light received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album three stars out of five, saying that "Perhaps Phillips has yet to find his distinctive voice, but there's no question he can color within the lines exceedingly well." Brian Mansfield of USA Today rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that "Phillips may not have a Home-style hit here, but does have the consistency and confidence that come with steady performing." At The Oakland Press, Gary Graff rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of four, stating that Phillips' deserved some "Props, then, for incremental growth, and respect for a more genuinely organic grounding than most of his 'Idol' brethren." Glenn Gamboa of Newsday graded the album a B, saying that "Phillip Phillips takes a giant leap forward on his sophomore album". At Billboard, Shirley Halprin gave the album a positive review, writing how "'Behind the Light,' feels more like a collection of big singles as opposed to a coherent album, with ebbs and flows" on which Phillips "mostly adheres to a strict formula: acoustic-based melodies accented by strings, building up to a huge hook and back again." Chuck Campbell of Knoxville News Sentinel rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that "His lyrics may be tortured at times, but sometimes he nails it".
Commercial performance
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 7 with sales of 41,000 units in the U.S. The album has sold 123,000 copies in the U.S. as of December 2014.
