Speaking to The Guardian, Ryan Tedder - who penned 'XO' for Beyoncé's latest album - explains the singer's songwriting credits AFTER a song is submitted.
"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. 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 favourite parts of the song. The whole melody, she wrote it spontaneously in the studio."I find it ridiculous how so many producers feel the NEED to defend Beyoncé's songwriting credits in interviews. How come Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey never have to encounter these issues? The question that can be asked is whether Beyoncé can be considered a true songwriter if (some believe) she's never written a song from scratch before? Not just modify bits and pieces of the song. There should be a new rule to this. If an artist contributes no more than 25% to a song, a songwriting credit should not be granted and that's me being generous. Anyway, he pretty much repeated what a reader stated this week in a discussion post right here.