Tedder had the idea for "Counting Stars," off his band's latest album, Native, while working with Beyonc� in the Hamptons. Tedder told Radio.com that he had been invited to Bey's encampment on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, to write a few songs for her follow-up to 2011's 4. But even though the sessions were all about Queen B, Tedder was able to find a little inspiration that he could keep for himself.

One morning while Tedder was prepping for his studio time with Beyonc�, he came across a folk song that from the moment he heard it, he knew he wanted to make something just like it.

At first Tedder tried to write his own interpretation of this other artist's song, which at the time was not being played in America and, as far as the OneRepublic frontman knows, was never even released in the states.

Tedder (who did not divulge this artist's identity) decided to reach out to the original writer and see if he would co-write the song with him. "He was like, 'I don't know about that,' and it was aloof enough that I was like, 'Oh screw it,'" Tedder explained.