OneRepublic front man Ryan Tedder sat in his seat inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome last Sunday just like any other spectator, watching Beyoncé perform during the Halftime Show. The singer/songwriter was 24 hours away from finishing the vocal recordings on the band’s third studio album, Native. Then, Beyoncé turned on to the final lap of her critically-acclaimed performance.

“She ended it with ‘Halo,’” recalled Tedder. “It was just completely shocking.”

Yes, the lead singer had no idea that the superstar songstress would end her set with a track that he composed.

“That was the best feeling,” he said. “What’s funny is, five seconds after it happened, I got a text from Max Martin.”

Tedder dubs Martin, “the greatest living songwriter/producer in the world,” and you’d be tough-pressed to argue against that title with a look at the Billboard charts over the past 15 years.

“I got a text from him saying, ‘Congrats on ‘Halo,’’” continued the singer. “This moment just got better, I’m sitting here watching this, and now Max Martin texted me.”

The next day, Tedder recorded the final pieces of Native. Now that the master is turned in (he beat the deadline by 10 minutes), fans of OneRepublic have an official, and final, release date of March 26.

“It was originally November,” said Tedder of the first target release date for the LP. “To be dead honest, we couldn’t finish the songs in time.”

The band now shifts in to promo-mode for the album, but not before a trip to Dubai this week. The band will also hit Europe before touring in the States this summer.