The song also consists of electronic flourishes and looped riff patterns brought about by an organ instrument. The instrumentation includes jittery keyboards, synthesizers, percussion and electronic musical instruments. It carries a 'celebratory, bumping Caribbean' groove and a marching-drum beat with shuffling dancehall influences. The sheet music for 'XO' was published in common time in the key of C major, with a tempo of 85 beats per minute. Influences of electronic rock and reggaeton genres were also found in the song. 'XO' is a midtempo pop, electropop and R&B love power ballad that bears resemblance to Beyoncé's own 2008 song ' Halo', which was also produced by Tedder. It was also sent to US mainstream, urban and rhythmic radio on December 17. The release of 'Blow' was therefore scrapped and 'XO' impacted contemporary hit radio in Italy and adult contemporary radio in the US on December 16, 2013. However, radio programmers reportedly pushed back against the release of 'Blow' to mainstream stations, finding its lyrics to be very explicit for the format and proposing that 'XO' be released in its place. Later, when Beyoncé was released, Billboard reported that ' Blow' would be released as the contemporary hit radio single both in the US and worldwide, and 'Drunk in Love' would be sent to urban radio in the US only 'XO' was scheduled to be released as the second worldwide radio single in 2014. The publication further speculated that the single was expected to be the song whose music video was filmed in August of the same year – 'XO'. The previous month, it was reported by a source to the Daily News that Beyoncé planned to release a new single and video on December 3, 2013. However, he acknowledged that he did not know when the singer planned to release new material for her fifth album. ĭuring an interview with Australian radio station Nova in November 2013, Tedder revealed that he had collaborated with Beyoncé on a song for her then-upcoming album along with The-Dream, further saying, 'Personally the song we did I like more than 'Halo'. 'XO' was recorded in four studios: Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios, both in New York City, Trackdown Studios in Sydney and Tritonus Studios in Berlin. The song was finally mixed by Andrew Scheps. Beyoncé's vocals were recorded by Stuart White and Bart Schoudel while all instrumentation and programming was carried out by Tedder. Ramon Rivas engineered the song, with assistance from Justin Hergett. 'XO' was written by Beyoncé, Terius 'The-Dream' Nash and Ryan Tedder while the production was helmed by the aforementioned group as well as Chauncey 'Hit-Boy' Hollis and HazeBanga. Ryan Tedder (left) and Terius 'The-Dream' Nash (right) served as writers and producers of 'XO' along with Beyoncé. Haim and John Mayer covered the song in 2014, with the latter releasing it as a single. To further promote 'XO', she performed it at the 2014 BRIT Awards and later at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Carter Show World Tour in December 2013 and later during the tour's second European leg in early 2014. Beyoncé performed the song during the last stops of the North American leg of The Mrs. It was made available on iTunes with the release of the album on Decemand was released online three days later. 'XO' managed to appear on many music charts across Europe and Oceania and it peaked at number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100.Ī music video for the song directed by Terry Richardson was filmed in Coney Island in late August 2013. Beyoncé released a statement saying that the song was intended to help people who have lost loved people in their lives and that the sample was included as a tribute to the Challenger crew. The usage of an audio sample from Space Shuttle Challenger disaster at the beginning of the song was criticized by the families of the lost crew, NASA, and some media. Musically, it was compared to Beyoncé's own song ' Halo' and was noted for having several music hooks including its call and response chorus. A pure midtempo power pop and R&B love song with electronic influences, 'XO' is complete with electronic musical instrumentation, synthesizers and drums. Ryan Tedder co-wrote and co-produced 'XO' with Terius 'The-Dream' Nash and Beyoncé, with additional production handled by Chauncey 'Hit-Boy' Hollis and HazeBanga Music. Columbia Records released the song as the lead contemporary hit radio single from the album in the US and Italy on December 16, 2013. ' XO' is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé from her self-titled fifth studio album in 2013.

Xo sample manager