Music
82 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2009
“This is kind of sink or
swim for us,”
says One
Republic’s Ryan Tedder about his
group’s new sophomore album,
Waking Up
, and first single, “All
the Right Moves.” “For the band
known for ‘Apologize’ and ‘Stop
and Stare’ to come out with a
song that kind of hits you over
the head, as bombastic as it is, is
taking a bit of a risk.”
Tedder needn’t worry. The
30yearold Tulsa, Oklahoma,
native knows what he’s doing.
Besides being OneRepublic’s
falsettovoiced front man, he’s
one of the most soughtafter
writers and producers in mu
sic today. Every single that he’s
written, produced, or sung has
gone platinum. If you’re familiar
with Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding
Love,” Beyoncé Knowles’s “Halo,”
Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone,”
and, of course, OneRepublic’s
aforementioned hits, you know
Tedder’s work. And this month,
Tedderwill be behind some of the
biggest new releases from Leona
Lewis andAdamLambert.
But right now, his main focus
is on his own band’s new release.
According to Tedder, the differ
ence between the group’s 2007
debut,
Dreaming Out Loud
, and
Waking Up
is massive. “
Waking
Up
is a huge departure for us
in terms of what might be ex
pected,” he says from his home in
Denver, Colorado. “I’m truthfully
trying topush theboundsofwhat
radiowill actually play.”
The trick to Tedder’s multifac
eted success, he says, is keeping
the styles separate. “As a writer
and producer, I’m kind of hired to
deliver things that are supposed
to connect and have a high prob
ability of success,” he remarks.
EverythingRyan
Tedder touches
turns to gold.
(Platinum, actu
ally.) Can his lucky
streak continue
withOneRepub
lic’s risky sopho
more album?By
JamesMayfield
Midas
Touch
on Beyoncé knowles:
“She’s amazing; she
did her thing on ‘Halo,’ and she added awhole
other level to it,” he says. “She somehowmakes
everybody feel important in the room and yet
somehow takes care of business and does her
thing.”
on Leona Lewis:
“She’s phenomenal,” he says.
“She’s a consummate pro and is the absolute
best at conveying emotionof anybody I’ve ever
seen.”
on working with
American Idol
runner-up
AdamLambertonhisupcomingdebutalbum:
“Heand I got to know eachother fairlywell. I’ll
send him an email and say, ‘Hey, check out this
song. What do you think?’ Fortunately, I got
lucky with him, and from the very first song I
submitted,” he says. “He wrote back and said,
‘Oh my God, this is so deadon.’ It’s a kind of
crazy hybrid.”
on having a direct line to simon Cowell:
“I
deal directlywith Simon Cowell a lot,” he says.
“It doesn’tmatter if everyone in the building is
doing freakin’ backflips — if he doesn’t think
it’s a hit, it ain’t happening. He’s a brutally hon
est guy, and that’s probably my favorite thing
about him. There’s no beating around the bush.
He gets straight to it.”
on not working with whitney houston, de-
spite rumors to the contrary:
“I loveWhitney
Houston,” he says. “That was a dream. I got
asked toworkwith hermultiple, multiple, mul
tiple times, but it never happened.”
onwhomhe still hopes toworkwith:
“I’d love
to work with Imogen Heap,” he says, “and I’d
love towritea songwithPaulMcCartney. Even
if the song didn’t turn out great, it’d be some
thing I could tell stories about until I’m90.”
RyanTedder has been for
tunate toworkwith some
of the biggest names in the
business. He spills about a
few and tells uswho is still
on hiswish list. — J.M.
InGood
Company
“I can’t do that with this band. I
don’t want
Waking Up
to come
out and people be like, ‘Nowwait
aminute, is that Snow Patrol? Is
thatMaroon 5? Is that the Fray?’
Iwant it to beOneRepublic.”
So, if it were to come down
to fitting in the box or branching
out with the band, which would
he choose? “In my perfect, ideal
world, I could have a little bit
of both,” he says. “I get, like, an
actual physical high off of song
writing. If you’re in that moment
where you’re writing a song, and
you reach that chorus and you’re
kind of struggling and then all of
a sudden, it’s kindof like, ‘Eureka!’
— that’s probably one of my
favorite moments, period. [But
there are also]moments onstage,
like at a showwe played in Paris
near the Eiffel Tower, [where]
50,000 people … [were] singing
‘Stop and Stare’ so loud that I
couldn’t hearmyself sing.Mygoal
is towrite and perform the kinds
of songs that make the world
want to sing. You know, it’s pretty
much as simple as that.”
