"Halo" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008). Included on the I Am... disc, it was intended to give a glimpse of Beyoncé's life, stripped of her make-up and celebrity trappings. Columbia Records released the song, the album's fourth single, to mainstream radio in the United States on January 20, 2009, and to international markets from February 20. Inspired by Ray LaMontagne's 2004 song "Shelter", "Halo" was written by Ryan Tedder and Evan Bogart, with the former producing it alongside Beyoncé, who handled the vocal production. It was originally conceived by Tedder and Bogart specifically for Beyoncé, although there was media speculation that it had been intended for Leona Lewis.

"Halo" is a pop and R&B power ballad, whose lyrics describe a sublime love. It features drum, piano, keyboard, string, synthesizer, and percussion instrumentation. The song faced a controversy when Kelly Clarkson claimed that Tedder had reused the musical arrangement in her own 2009 song "Already Gone". "Halo" received acclaim from music critics, who made comparisons with Lewis's 2007 song "Bleeding Love", also written by Tedder. Its production and Beyoncé's vocals also received critical praise. "Halo" was nominated for Record of the Year and won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. It won Best Song at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards.

"Halo" topped the singles charts of Brazil, Portugal, Norway, and Slovakia, and reached the top five on the singles chart of Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was the most-played song of the 2000s decade on Brazilian radio, despite being released in 2009. The song has received numerous certifications, including a certification from Australia, making it one of the highest-certified songs in the country, an certification from the US, a certification from Canada, a certification from the United Kingdom, a certification from Italy, a certification from Germany and a award from Spain and Denmark.

Philip Andelman directed the accompanying music video, which features American actor Michael Ealy. It portrays a romantic relationship between characters played by Beyoncé and Ealy. Critics complimented Beyoncé's looks in the clip, and it became her first YouTube video to surpass one billion views. An alternative music video, which shows Ealy's character being chased by police officers through a forest at night, was posted on the Internet in May 2010. The lyrics to "Halo" were changed for three of Beyoncé's special live performances: a tribute to Michael Jackson following his death, a tribute to the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and for Kobe and Gianna Bryant's memorial in 2020. The song has been covered by many artists, including Florence and the Machine, Harper Blynn, LP, and Westlife. It was also performed on the television show Glee, and was added to the soundtrack of the Brazilian telenovela Caminho das Índias.

Writing and production

"Halo" was initially composed by Ryan Tedder, lead vocalist of OneRepublic, together with Evan "Kidd" Bogart. In an interview for HitQuarters, Kidd narrated the events that led to writing the song. OneRepublic canceled their tour after Tedder had torn his Achilles tendon and had undergone surgery. The following day, the band sent Tedder to Los Angeles. There, he and Kidd were socializing when Tedder expressed his desire to write a song. Initially, Kidd opposed the idea because Tedder was supposed to be recuperating, but the pair went to Tedder's studio. During the writing sessions, singer Ray LaMontagne was the primary inspiration for "Halo". Kidd suggested they create a song in the style of LaMontagne's "Shelter" for Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z, and proposed the title "Halo" after hearing Tedder play "angelic" chords. They wrote the song in three hours. In 2009, the original demo leaked on the Internet, and its production was similar to the published recording, for which Beyoncé received a writing credit. Tedder explained that she vocally edited the song's bridge and consequently earned the credit.

According to Simon Cowell, owner of the music production company Syco Entertainment, Bogart and Tedder intended "Halo" for his client, singer Leona Lewis, who was unable to record it due to scheduling conflicts. Cowell was upset that Beyoncé chose to record the song. David Balls, editor of the British media website Digital Spy, asked Tedder during an interview whether "Halo" had initially been written for Lewis. Tedder answered that he had only tentatively offered the track to Lewis because Beyoncé delayed recording it. He commented:

There was this huge scandal that originally "Halo" was meant to go to Leona. That was never the case ... That song was written for Beyoncé. What happened was that Beyoncé waited long enough to record that song ... I thought this would be a brilliant first single for Leona, which it would have ... What I did was foolishly say to Leona's camp, "I have it on hold for another artist and I'm pretty sure they'll take it, but if they don't, I just want to know if you like it enough to consider it". I sent it to them and they flipped on it. They loved it and instantly said they wanted to do it. I was like, "Wait, wait, wait, no, it's not free yet!"

Tedder and Beyoncé produced "Halo" in 2008 at Los Angeles' Manfield Studios, and at New York City's Germano and Roc The Mic Studios. During the production, Beyoncé edited and composed a new bridge for the song. Tedder did the musical arrangements and played the instruments, while Christian Baker assisted in recording the music. Mark "Spike" Stent mixed the track with assistance from Matt Green, and Jim Caruana recorded Beyoncé's vocals; both tasks were done at Roc the Mic Studios. "Halo" is present on the I Am... disc of the double album I Am... Sasha Fierce, as it is a ballad that shows Beyoncé's insecurities about love, and the person she is "underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights and underneath all the exciting star drama". Beyoncé has said that she loves singing ballads because, "the music and the emotion in the story is told so much better. It's a better connection because you can hear it and it's not all these other distractions. I really wanted people to hear my voice and hear what I had to say".

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"Halo" is a contemporary downtempo R&B power ballad that features a pop production. It has elements of gospel and soul music. Instrumentation is provided by a piano, a keyboard, big drums, a synthesizer, strings, and percussion instruments. The cascading piano work is accompanied by percussive beats that alternate between handclaps and foot stomps. "Halo" was composed using common time in the key of A major, with a tempo of 84 beats per minute. It is built on the chord progression , and is written in the common verse–chorus form.Sheet music for "Halo". Sony/ATV Music Publishing (2008). Beyoncé's vocals span from C3 to the head voice note of G5, incorporate melisma, and are supported by backing vocals. She ornaments her singing with vibrato yelps and trills—rapid alternations between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart. The arrangement also consists of symphonic crescendos and electronic accents.

In "Halo", Beyoncé professes her fondness to her lover with open-hearted emotion. She said, "['Halo'] is angelic ... like you see [angels'] faces instantly when you hear it. [Its lyrics] are basically saying that I had these walls built up about love; you completely tore them down and when I look at you I see your halo, it's really beautiful". Backed by a piano, claps and step stomps that set a spiritualized atmosphere, Beyoncé opens the song with the lines: "Remember those walls I built? / Well, baby, they're tumbling down". She sings the introduction in a low register, and the power of her voice gradually increases as the song progresses. In the , she chants, "Everywhere I'm looking now, I'm surrounded by your embrace / baby I can see your halo, you know you're my saving grace / you're everything I need and more, it's written all over your face". Beyoncé then echoes the word "halo" in the chorus; the third and final one is preceded by a 1980s drum breakdown, and is complemented by sweeping strings and percussion.

Release "Halo" and "Ego" were initially planned for simultaneous release in the US, following the 2008 dual lead singles "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". The release of "Ego" was canceled and replaced with "Diva". "Halo" was placed on a different disc of I Am... Sasha Fierce to "Diva"; the intention was to demonstrate the concept that Beyoncé has conflicting personalities—the central theme of the album. The motif was demonstrated by placing the album's ballads and uptempo tracks on separate discs. "Halo" was sent by Music World Entertainment and Columbia Records to contemporary hit radio playlists on January 20, 2009, while "Diva" was targeted to rhythmic contemporary and urban contemporary radio playlists. A digital extended play (EP) containing a radio edit and four remixes of "Halo" was later released on April 14, 2009.

On February 20, 2009, "Halo" was released as a two-track digital download, including a remix of "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in Australia and New Zealand. On March 20, 2009, "Halo" was serviced digitally alongside the album version of "Diva" in mainland Europe, including Germany, where it was also made available as a CD single on April 3 and a vinyl single on April 12, 2009. In the United Kingdom, a digital EP containing the album version and three remixes of "Halo" was released on April 13, 2009. The following day, the song was made available on a digital EP, as a maxi single and a vinyl single in Canada.

Controversy Soon after composing "Halo", Tedder worked with Kelly Clarkson on her fourth studio album, All I Ever Wanted (2009), for which they wrote "Already Gone" together. When the song came out, critics noted a resemblance to Beyoncé's "Halo". Clarkson, however, initially stated that she was unaware of any similarities between the two songs. She eventually realized their resemblance when she listened to both recordings closely; the similarities are most notable in the backing tracks, which in both cases feature a melancholy piano, loud drums, and handclaps. She then alleged Tedder used the same arrangement on both "Already Gone" and "Halo", and complained that people would, incorrectly, assume she was stealing it from Beyoncé. Clarkson tried to prevent "Already Gone" from being included on All I Ever Wanted, but it was impossible to make last-minute changes, as her album was already being printed when I Am... Sasha Fierce was released.

Clarkson was furious and confronted Tedder on the phone. In response, Tedder commented that he would never give two artists the same musical arrangement, and that her criticism was "hurtful and absurd". He asserted that the concept, melodies, and lyrics of "Already Gone" and "Halo" are completely different. Calling "Already Gone" one of the best songs he had ever composed, Tedder challenged people to "listen [to the two ballads] and form their own opinions". Clarkson also tried to stop her label, RCA, from releasing "Already Gone" as a single because she wanted to respect Beyoncé, but they went against her will and released it. She said, "It's one of those things I have no control over. I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it." Clarkson later told James Montgomery of MTV News that it was unfortunate "Already Gone" and "Halo" sound so similar, but noted that the vocal melodies differ.

Critical reception