Here’s what Max Martin said to Ryan Tedder about Taylor Swift and music production

He might be best known as the front man with OneRepublic, but since 2008, when he co-wrote and produced Leona Lewis’s Bleeding Love, Ryan Tedder has also been the go-to guy for stars in search of a big hit single.

Now, in a new interview with Grammy.com, Tedder has been discussing the making of some of the biggest records he’s been involved in, including songs by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Adele.

Tedder’s part in the Swift story came when he co-wrote and co-produced Welcome to New York and I Know Places, from 2014’s 1989 album. The former song reflects the feelings of “endless possibilities” that comes with moving to the city, says Tedder, and he sounds similarly awed by Swift’s talent.

“It was me just kind of witnessing her brilliant, fast-paced, lyrical wizardry,” he remembers. “Max [Martin – another producer on the album] and I had a conversation nine months later at the Grammys, when we had literally just won for 1989. He kind of laughed, he pointed to all the other producers on the album, and he’s like, ‘If she had, like, three more hours in the day, she would just figure out what we do and she would do it. And she wouldn’t need any of us.’”

Tedder describes Swift as a force of nature, and calls her “the most talented top liner I’ve ever been in a room with, bar none.” And he’s also got good things to say about Adele, with whom he co-wrote 2011’s Rumour Has It.

Tedder also produced the song, and says that Adele recorded the whole vocal in one take. “I’ve never seen anyone do that in my life – before or since,” he notes.

Prior to both of these collaborations, Tedder collaborated with Beyoncé on her 2009 hit Halo. This one began with him sitting in a room with Evan Bogart, and came from what he suggests was a divine intervention.

“When you write enough songs, not every day do the clouds part and God looks down on you and goes, ‘Here,’” says Tedder. “But that’s what happened on that day. I turn on the keyboard, the first sound that I play is the opening sound of the song. Sounds like angels singing. And we wrote the song pretty quick, as I recall.”

Check out the full interview, in which Tedder also discusses working with Jonas Brothers, Tate McRae and – of course – OneRepubic, at Grammy.com.