Beyoncé‘s “Halo” was co-written by a rock star. He penned lyrics for the bridge of the song. Subsequently, Queen B decided to take the song in another direction.
Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’ was written because Queen B was a huge fan of a OneRepublic song
Ryan Tedder is the lead singer of the pop-rock band OneRepublic. He wrote songs for other artists, including Lil Nas X’s “Thats What I Want,” the Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker,” and Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love.”
During a 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tedder discussed the origin of “Halo.” Beyoncé was a fan of OneRepublic’s song “Come Home” and she asked Tedder to write a similar song for her. Subsequently, he hurt his heel and had to get surgery to fix it.
“I had not written a song in probably two months at this point, I called my friend Evan Bogart and said, ‘I got three hours by myself today, I’m going crazy, can you come over, let’s write for Beyoncé,’” he recalled. Bogart gave us songs such as Rihanna’s “SOS,” Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight Tonight,” and Usher and Enrique Iglesias’ “Dirty Dancer.”
‘Halo’ became an angelic song because of a certain setting on a keyboard
Tedder discussed the evolution of “Halo.” “I turned on my keyboard, and the very first thing that came out sounded like a bunch of angels singing, and that’s the intro of ‘Halo,’” he said. “It was total luck that the particular keyboard patch that came on sounded like angels.”
Tedder said the keyboard inspired the lyrics of “Halo.” “I was like, ‘If you’re looking at an angel, you can see their halo. What if you’re staring at the person you love and you can see their halo?’” he said. “That entire song was written in under three hours.”
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Beyoncé didn’t sing all of Tedder’s lyrics. “I did this piano solo in the bridge and Beyoncé ended up, instead of doing the lyrics that were in the bridge, she just sang my piano melody, which is insanity because it was not an easy one to do,” he recalled.
How the song and Beyoncé’s ‘I Am… Sasha Fierce’ performed in the United States
“Halo” became a big hit for Queen B. The tune reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 31 weeks. “Halo” lasted longer on the chart than any of Beyoncé’s other solo songs.
The tune appeared on the concept album I Am… Sasha Fierce. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for one week, staying on the chart for 193 weeks in total. I Am… Sasha Fierce lasted longer on the chart than any of Beyoncé’s other albums.
Aside from “Halo,” the album produced five other top 40 singles: “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” “Ego,” “Diva,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “If I Were a Boy.” “Single Ladies” became the highest-charting of the bunch, reaching No. 1 for four weeks.
“Halo” was a huge hit and it wouldn’t be the same if Beyoncé chose to sing it as Tedder envisioned.
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