Songfacts®:

• The first single from British singer Leona Lewis's third album finds her taking a more dance pop route than on her previous material. She said, "I'm excited for people to see a different side to my music. I'm a fan of so many different genres and styles. For me this song has all the great ingredients of a summer anthem." The song got its first play on Scott Mills' Radio One show on July 15, 2011 before being released on September 4, 2011.
• The song was written by New York based singer/songwriter Autumn Rowe and French hitmaker, Sandy Vee, who previously teamed together for American pop dance singer Alexis Jordan's singles "Good Girl" and "Hush Hush."
• Despite being credited as a songwriter on "Collide," Avicii was upset at the song's borrowing from his instrumental tune "Penguin," which was due to be released with vocals under the name "Fade Into Darkness." The Swedish DJ, who also records under the name of Tim Berg, tweeted his dismay: "To answer everyone, the first time I heard Leona Lewis 'Collide' was today. I didn't produce it and neither me or my manager could approve it. I'm just upset for someone taking credit of our idea before I had a chance to release it… And for the time and effort that has been put into this by my manager and label."
  
  Lewis responded to his plagiarism accusations by denying Berg's claims. She tweeted: "With regards to my song, avicii was aware & agreeing publishing splits for himself and his manager. When avicii sent his track out to have a song written over it I totally fell in love with this version and i think he's super talented."
  
  Lewis and DJ Avicii eventually reached an agreement and the single was released as a collaboration under both artists' names.
• Autumn Rowe told Digital Spy how she was inspired by the prospect of journeying with Sweden with Lewis when penning this song. Said the New York songwriter: "I was working with her [Lewis] and we were just about to go to Sweden. I had like three days in New York and I was going to go see her and I wrote the song then. I was inspired by the travelling and everything we've done. I'd never been to Sweden; that's where the line 'When you're in...' [came from]. On that trip I was going to Sweden, Denmark, London and Miami."
• This was one of several songs Rowe wrote for Lewis. She told Digital Spy about her songwriting process: "With Leona, first we hung out and got to know each other. I feel that it's very important that we are comfortable and friends, because writing has to be one of the most vulnerable things that you can do. You have to just pour your soul out and have no ego. Once we got in the studio, we started with Jonas Quant and wrote a couple of songs. She was completely open about her life, how she was feeling, where she was right then - she'd just had a birthday the day before we started. It was a perfect time for her in her life. For me, when I turned 25, that's when I really became a woman and it's just a great age - you really know who you are."