page_title: Halo (Beyoncé song)
section_title: Cover versions and usage in media
hierarchical_section_title: Halo (Beyoncé song) / Cover versions and usage in media
caption_attribution_description: Glee cast
context_page_description: "Halo" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. Included on the I Am... disc, it was intended to give a behind-the-scenes 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 and composed by Beyoncé, Ryan Tedder and Evan Bogart. 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/R&B power ballad, the lyrics of which 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 positive reviews from music critics, who made comparisons with Lewis's 2007 song "Bleeding Love".
context_section_description: In 2009, "Halo" was covered by Florence and the Machine on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Elementary school group PS22 chorus covered "Halo" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" during the 2009 Billboard Women in Music luncheon held at The Pierre in New York City. At the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, American singer Katy Perry performed a mash-up of "Halo" and the other Best Song nominees. American singer Mike Posner also covered the ballad with different lyrics, and placed it on his 2009 album A Matter of Time. According to an MTV writer, Posner's rendition was "a refreshing take on the original". David Sides also made a piano cover of the song and released it on his album The Collection, Vol. 3. "Halo" is featured on the British compilation album Now! 73. The song was blended with "How to Break a Heart" by the Irish boy band Westlife, on their 2010 Where We Are Tour. On February 5, 2012, the team on the Australian talent show, Young Talent Time, sang "Halo" as the closing song of that night. On April 17, 2013, Angie Miller, a contestant on the 12th season of American Idol covered the song during an episode of the show. Melissa Locker of Rolling Stone magazine commented that she was "at her best" and "managed to tap into that power sans piano".
  "Halo" has been covered by other musicians, including Ailee, ceo (Eric Berglund) and Harper Blynn. Marc Hogan of Pitchfork Media has written that no cover has been "quite as inspired or as perversely logical" as the one by ceo. Built essentially on bumpy beats, this version makes use of an acoustic guitar, 1980s-era stylized electric guitar, strings, and horns, and ends with a rapped outro. A dancehall cover of "Halo" by Major Lazer, with lead vocals by Elephant Man, was posted on the former's Twitter account the night after Beyoncé won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2011 Grammy Awards. Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly commented that their version "stays fairly close to the original, except with Elephant Man growling instead of Beyoncé belting the verses". In 2012, Swedish singer Robin Stjernberg, member of the boy band What's Up!, covered the song and included it on his solo debut album My Versions. A cover by singer-songwriter LP, also in 2012, was described by MTV as "[finding] the perfect balance between making it her own and preserving the integrity of the original melody". In 2013, "Halo" was covered by the Icelandic band Hjaltalín, with their version of "Halo" appearing as the B-side of their single "Crack in a Stone". A gospel-style version of the song was recorded by Jahméne Douglas and was released on his album Love Never Fails (2013). Indian singer Sunidhi Chauhan covered "Halo" during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in late September 2013. A writer of The Times of India included the performance of the song as one of the highlights of the concert.
  "Halo" was blended with Katrina and the Waves' 1985 song "Walking on Sunshine", in the "Vitamin D" episode of the Fox Broadcasting Company television show Glee. Released as a single, this version peaked at number 4 on the Irish Singles Chart, number 8 on the UK Official Download Chart, number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart, number 28 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, and number 40 on the Hot 100 chart. It was certified gold by ARIA, denoting shipment of 35,000 copies. The mash-up was included on the set list of the group's debut concert Glee Live! In Concert! (2010–11). "Halo" was included on the international soundtrack of Caminho das Índias, an Emmy-winning Brazilian soap opera.
caption: In 2009, members of the Glee cast performed a mash-up cover of "Halo" and "Walking on Sunshine".
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T1i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:17 14:29:52", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "8426", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10316", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "20030", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:17 14:29:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:17 14:29:52", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "45/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "47", "EXIF SubSecTime": "66", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "66", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "66", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4752", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3168", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8380", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "792000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3168000/593", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}