Peak
5
Weeks
31
Score
5,374
Chart Year
2009
The accompanying music videos for "Halo" and "Diva" premiered simultaneously on the US iTunes Store on December 23, 2008.[12] Shot in late November 2008 in a SoHo townhouse owned by Beyoncé, the video was directed by Philip Andelman and features actor Michael Ealy as Beyoncé's love interest.[27][94][95] Ealy was happy to work with Beyoncé, as he had loved the song immediately after hearing it.[96] This was the second time he was asked to star in a video for a song by Beyoncé; the first was "Irreplaceable", which he had refused because he did not appreciate its theme and concept.[96] He had advised Beyoncé: "Call me when you have a hero role".[96] The video, which Beyoncé has considered intimate and romantic,[25] begins as she stands against a wall, illuminated by light that passes through a window. In one scene, Beyoncé's character, dressed in a skin-tight leotard, performs a dance sequence while her love interest looks down at her from a balcony. According to Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly, the dance routines pay homage to the 1983 romantic drama film Flashdance.[12] Beyoncé and Ealy later stare adoringly at each other as they snuggle on a sofa. During the climax of the video, Beyoncé is shown underwater, dressed in white, moving slowly upwards. As the chorus begins, she opens her eyes; after Ealy kisses the back of her neck, the pair come face to face in the final scene, in which Beyoncé lies in bed, with Ealy above her. Jennifer Cady of E! Online wrote that the bright shiny lights in the video "make [Beyoncé] look like an angel".[52] The video was ranked at number 74 on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown.[97] By April 2020, the video had received over one billion views on YouTube, becoming Beyoncé's first to achieve it.[98] An alternative video surfaced online in late May 2010, explaining why Beyoncé's character was remembering her love interest in the original version.[95][99] It begins with a view of the night sky and many trees, as Beyoncé drives a car and Ealy's character is chased by the police through a forest. As the video progresses, she parks her car on the side of the road and scenes from the original version are shown. Police dogs eventually catch Ealy's character and attack him savagely. An open bag reveals stolen money, which is dispersed by the wind. At the end of the video, in the forest, Beyoncé finds Ealy lying lifelessly on the ground
This song, which describes a love that is so phenomenal that it is heavenly, was written by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder and Evan "Kidd" Bogart, a prolific songwriter and the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart - other songs he has co-written include "Take You There" for Sean Kingston and "S.O.S. (Rescue Me)" for Rihanna. In the summer of 2008, Bogart visited his friend Tedder, who was laid up at home after rupturing his Achilles tendon on tour with OneRepublic. As Bogart explained to NPR, the pair went into Tedder's home studio and wrote "Halo" in three hours. Bogart says the song was intended for Beyoncé, and they wrote it thinking about what was going on in her life and her relationship with Jay-Z. Bogart is a big fan of Ray LaMontagne, who has a song on his 2004 debut album called "Shelter." Bogart thought about expressing that same sentiment - being there for someone and being an encompassing halo - in a song for Beyoncé. Tedder came up with some angelic keyboard parts and they quickly had their song. They sent the demo to Jay Brown at Roc Nation (Jay-Z's label/management company), who begged them not to give the song to anyone else, since he thought it was perfect for Beyoncé. The song went "on hold" for Beyoncé, which meant had the rights to it, but when she took a while to record it, Tedder, who wrote "Bleeding Love," told Leona Lewis' management that Lewis could have it if Beyoncé passed. This led to some rumors that the song was written for Lewis, which Tedder and Bogart denied. The day after they wrote this song, Tedder and Bogart spent another three hours writing a bridge for the song, but this bridge ended up getting dropped from the recording. In the song's music video Beyoncé gets up close and cosy with the actor Michael Ealy (2 Fast 2 Furious, Seven Pounds). Ealy also featured in the clip for Mariah Carey's 2005 UK hit, "Get Your Number." This won the award for Best Song at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, and it also won the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2010. Accompanied by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on piano, Beyoncé performed a re-worked version of this song on the charity telethon Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, held on January 22, 2010. The former Destiny's Child's singer injected the earthquake devastated country directly into her lyrics: "Haiti, we can see your halo, you know you're my saving grace," she sang. "You're everything I need and more, it's written all over your face/ Haiti, we can see your halo, I pray you won't fade away." There is a parody of this song on YouTube called Hallows, about a girl who wants to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The song, recorded by The Maynard Triplets, lists some feats of Harry's from earlier movies and books. >> Beyoncé performed this at halfime of the 2013 Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. She had the show to herself, which was rare for a Pop act, but her act incorporated some stunning visual effects and went over quite well. Speaking with Billboard magazine, Ryan Tedder recalled how he penned the song with Evan "Kidd" Bogart: "I was playing a pick up game right before a show in Michigan and I tore my Achilles heel," he recalled. "It was the most intense pain I ever experienced in my life. I passed out. So I ended up going home for two weeks. My wife forbade me from writing or doing any work whatsoever." "Evan Bogart and I were super close friends," Tedder continued. "He was having his explosion as a songwriter, and I texted him and said, 'My wife's gone for three hours, will you come over? Let's write one song.' Beyoncé had contacted me because of a song on our first album called 'Come Home.' So he came over and I said, 'Dude, Beyoncé wants me to do a song. Let's do a song in three hours.' I had this idea for a patch of this weird choir of angels thing, started playing it and within three hours we had 'Halo.'" Speaking with British newspaper The Guardian, Tedder backed Beyoncé against accusations that she unfairly adds her name to her song's credits. "I can't speak for all of the songs that she does but I'll say this: she does stuff on any given song that, when you go from the demo to the final version, takes it to another level that you never would have thought of as the writer," he explained. "For instance, on 'Halo', that bridge on her version is completely different to my original one. Basically, she came in, ditched that, edited it, did her vocal thing on it and now it's become one of my favorite parts of the song. The whole melody, she wrote it spontaneously in the studio. So her credit on that song stems from that."
Remember those walls I built Well, baby, they're tumbling down And they didn't even put up a fight They didn't even make a sound I found a way to let you win But I never really had a doubt Standing in the light of your halo I got my angel now It's like I've been awakened Every rule I had you breaking It's the risk that I'm taking I ain't never gonna shut you out 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 Baby, I can feel your halo Pray it won't fade away I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo Hit me like a ray of sun Burning through my darkest night You're the only one that I want Think I'm addicted to your light I swore I'd never fall again But this don't even feel like falling Gravity can't begin To pull me back to the ground again Feels like I've been awakened Every rule I had you breaking The risk that I'm taking I'm never gonna shut you out 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 Baby, I can feel your halo Pray it won't fade away I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo Halo, halo Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh Everywhere I'm looking now I'm surrounded by your embrace Baby, I can see your halo Pray it won't fade away I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo I can feel your halo (halo) halo I can see your halo (halo) halo
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 7, 2009 | 93 | 33 |
| 2 | Feb 14, 2009 | 60 | 66 |
| 3 | Feb 21, 2009 | 44 | 82 |
| 4 | Feb 28, 2009 | 49 | 77 |
| 5 | Mar 7, 2009 | 46 | 80 |
| 6 | Mar 14, 2009 | 41 | 85 |
| 7 | Mar 21, 2009 | 37 | 89 |
| 8 | Mar 28, 2009 | 32 | 94 |
| 9 | Apr 4, 2009 | 28 | 98 |
| 10 | Apr 11, 2009 | 23 | 103 |
| 11 | Apr 18, 2009 | 18 | 108 |
| 12 | Apr 25, 2009 | 13 | 113 |
| 13 | May 2, 2009 | 12 | 114 |
| 14 | May 9, 2009 | 10 | 116 |
| 15 | May 16, 2009 | 8 | 118 |
| 16 | May 23, 2009 | 5 | 121 |
| 17 | May 30, 2009 | 6 | 120 |
| 18 | Jun 6, 2009 | 8 | 118 |
| 19 | Jun 13, 2009 | 6 | 120 |
| 20 | Jun 20, 2009 | 8 | 118 |