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OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder reveals surreal moment Beyoncé released his track

27 September 2022, 20:00

Dev Griffin chats to OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder

By Alice Dear

Ryan Tedder joined Heart's Dev Griffin this week where he opened up about working with one of the world's biggest stars, Beyoncé.

Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic is best known for hits such as Counting Stars, Apologise and I Ain't Worried, from the latest Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.

However, Ryan, 43, is also the brains behind some of the biggest Adele, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande hits.

The hitmaker has even worked with Beyoncé several times, and told Dev about the moment he found out the superstar was putting his track XO on her 2013 self-titled album.

Speaking to Dev this week, Ryan explained how he had to play his music for Beyoncé and Jay Z when they dropped in on one of his recording sessions in the Hamptons and that is was one of the "most nerve-wracking experiences".

Beyoncé - XO (Video)

Ryan added that around nine months later, while in London, he found out Beyoncé was releasing his track, XO, as one of the lead singles of her album.

He told Dev: "I'm in London, I find out the night before [the album] came out, it was coming out 12 hours later. I was in the studio finishing recording the vocals on Ghost by Ella Henderson.

"I had to ask Ella to leave the studio, and her manager, I said: 'No one can be in this room because per request I have to listen to a mix and no one is allowed to hear this'."

He went on: "I didn't even know that she had recorded the song. I had no idea that she recorded XO. I had sent it in, they said they loved it and that was all I heard."

You can watch full interview in the player above.