Ryan's vocals span from the lower note of B2 to the higher note of C♯5 The song is written in the key of C ♯ minor, and follows a chord progression of C ♯m-E-B-A. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said that the song is 'an extremely effective (and infectious) song - with Tedder's polished pop hijacking a folk song, and a little R&B attitude in there as well.' The band explained that the song is about 'laying in bed awake at night when you're stressed out of your mind, thinking 'How are we gonna make ends meet? How are we gonna pay the bills?' You know, all those things you wanna do with your life – how are we gonna make them work? How's this actually gonna happen or come to pass? So, instead of counting sheep, we're counting stars.' Īccording to the sheet music published at, the song has a tempo of 107.6 beats per minute before increasing to 122 beats per minute. 'Counting Stars' is a folk pop and pop rock song with a disco beat. I immediately came up with the chorus idea, went home and for the next three months finished the Native album.' I debated playing it for Beyoncé and putting it forward for her album, but it didn't feel like a song Beyoncé would record. I didn't like the verses or lyrics, but I loved the feel and movement of it. I ended up coming across this weird song that had this indigenous folk sound to it that just struck me like lightning. When Jay-Z and Beyoncé invite you to stay with them in the Hamptons, you don't say no!' He continued: 'I was out there for about five days and on the second day I woke up early and I started combing through the internet, searching for stuff that would inspire me for Beyoncé. I broke the promise because I also did sessions that year with Beyoncé. I was in the middle of working on my most recent album with OneRepublic, Native, and during that time I was determined not to work with any other artists. I was working in the largest house I've ever stepped foot in, which was being rented by Jay-Z and Beyoncé. In an interview with the Official Charts Company, Tedder said, 'I had the idea for Counting Stars originally in the summer of 2012 when I was in the Hamptons. Tedder started writing 'Counting Stars' while waiting for Beyoncé to turn up to a studio session, about a month after starting to write ' Love Runs Out'. He also called it 'one of two favorite songs on the album'. It was probably the most versions of any songto get it right'. Ryan Tedder stated that ''Counting Stars' came about as an idea.

Counting stars lyrics