So, the story is that One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder was working with Kelly Clarkson on several songs when he began to co-write with Beyonce. Beyonce’s song “Halo” was released first, and when Clarkson heard it, she was none too happy.

You can listen to both songs below. But I’ll give you my impressions.

First of all, the melodies are different and the lyrics are different. And technically speaking, lyrics and melody are the only elements you can copyright from a song. But I can certainly hear how Clarkson might be miffed. The chord progression is virtually the same, the meter and tempo are quite similar and the feel and groove are definitely the same. It’s as if the guy took the same progression to both of these ladies and they just wrote whatever came to them on top.

So the question is, did he do this intentionally? Did he realize he’d given the same basic tracks to both people? Or did he perhaps mess up and forget that he had? He denies, left, right and centre, that he gave them both the same tracks…however, even he must hear the similarities. He’s a songwriter, for pete’s sake. I’m thinking that the poor guy didn’t realize what he had done until it was too late.

I’m also thinking that neither of these two ladies is going to trust his input in future, so he has pretty much screwed himself.

Have a listen to both, and see what you think:

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