First, you read right. OneRepublic is one word. Second, we're finally going to get into pop music a little more since that is what I listen to at least 60 percent of the time, thanks to pure laziness and Z107.7-FM...(For those of you who haven't finished Alanis week, go ahead and do that. I just wanted to post this before I go lay down again since I'm not feeling well.)
Anyway, this will be a short week, as the band only has two albums out to date, the latest one (also the lesser widely known but more critically-acclaimed one) in 2009.
Like Lily Allen, OneRepublic got its start on MySpace - becoming the most popular unsigned act on the site before they finally were signed in 2006. Their first and most popular single, "Apologize" was released in both its original version and a remix by Timbaland (both appear on the album) and dominated pop radio for quite a long time. Wikipedia says the song was at one point played on air 10,331 times in one week. They even performed it with David Archuleta on his American Idol season finale in 2008 (and Kris Allen performed it in the 2009 top 3 or finale, I can't remember).
Required listening:
- 2007 – Dreaming Out Loud
- 2009 – Waking Up
See, the albums follow a theme. I think it's supposed to represent the band hitting its stride, although I tend to like the first album more than the latter. You tell me.
The self-proclaimed genreless (although they are most definitely some form of pop-rock) band features the lovable vocal stylings of lyricist Ryan Tedder, with lots of piano sounds and violin - I like to think their stuff is a little more filled out than most pop songs. But I want you to pay attention to the lyrics especially. Tedder may not be a super genious writing life-changing rhymes, but it should be noted that his lyrics have dominated the radio in the past 5 or so years, and I'd like us to think about why and how that compares to his own band's music.
Remember how I mentioned "Apologize" and its immense popularity? Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" was the one to dethrone it from No. 1 on the Top 40 - and it was also co-written and produced by Tedder. He's also written for/with the Backstreet Boys, Chris Cornell, Ashley Tisdale, Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco, Hilary Duff, Timbaland, Natasha Bedingfield, Whitney Houston, Westlife, Rihanna, Daughtry and Mario to name a few. Off Kelly Clarkson's 2009 release, he wrote the hit "Already Gone" among others, and Beyonce's "Halo," as well as "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks. He also worked on Adam Lambert's debut album.
Currently, he is working with Katy Perry, Keri Hilson, Britney Spears, Adele, James Blunt, Nelly Furtado, David Cook and Estelle, so you can't deny his impact on today's pop music. Hell, he's even writing with Rascal Flatts, so add country to his repertoire.
I saw them for the first time at Live OFF the Levee, when One Lone Car opened for them in St. Louis. I fell in love. I hope you will at least find something you like.
I'm starting to like the new album a lot...
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I am not a big fan of pop music. For me it is too reminiscent of my middle school/high school days. Needless to say I do not listen to much of it now, so it will be interesting for me to see what I think about the new stuff coming out.
ReplyDeleteRight off the bat I am not too interested in the first two songs. They don’t really do much in the way of drawing me in by any means. “Stop and Stare,” however, I really enjoyed it vaguely reminded me of a Travis song, and the lyrics are definitely identifiable. I feel fortunate that Thomas and I were able to make the big step and leave Alton. It is easy to get stuck, so to take the big leap and become your own person can be a scary thing. “Apologize” has a beautiful production quality and I think I like the original version minus Timbaland better. I did like this song quite a bit when it first came out, but alas it has been a bit overplayed for my liking. “All Fall Down” draws you in with the beautiful violin. I really love how bands are starting to incorporate string sections into their music more and more. It adds a sort of sexy sophistication to it. “Won’t Stop,” has a really sweet harmonizing to it. It has a nice mellow feel, and it sort of reminds me of something Jason Mraz would sing. This album definitely has a lot of diversity to it, so I am sure everybody can find something on this album that would appeal to their tastes. “Come Home” is another simplistic song, but I think Ryan’s voice is very suitable for this type of song. It has a tenderness to it that really hits home with the touching lyrics. Overall this album was much better than I thought it was going to be, it is nice to see that Pop music can have a touch of sophistication to it as it does with “OneRepublic.”
“All the right moves” is the big single from this album thus far. When I first heard this song I did not like it at all, but I have to say that the overexposure has actually done this song a favor. The more and more I hear it, I tend to like it more each time. It could be the catchy chorus, or just the upbeat tempo that seems to be sucking me in. “Secrets” starts off with the subtlety of just Ryan’s voice and the violin, it is a nice intro and although I kind of wish they would have backed down from so much extra production as the song progresses, it still is a nice song overall. The next two tracks didn’t do much for me, so once I got to “Good Life,” I was wondering if this was going to be a remake of Kanye’s version. Thankfully it wasn’t and this song has an almost spiritual feel to it. For some reason it made me picture a whole church congregation getting up and singing along praising their lives’. “Fear” is a nice song, I like the lyrics that look at the innocence we have as children. How we have no fear, and think we are invincible. “Waking Up” sounded a lot like something that U2 would have produced, from the way the guitars sound, to Ryan’s voice. I don’t think I am a fan of this, and kind of hope that their next album does not have more of this on it. “Lullaby” is a very nice way to end the album, but I have to say that this sounds just like a Keane song. I am not sure if they are trying to dabble in different pop styles but I hope they stay true to their own uniqueness.
ReplyDeleteOverall I liked the first album better, but I think this group has the ability to keep putting out good records, as long as they stay true to themselves.
Due to my dislike of ‘Apologize’, I was not too excited once I saw this was our next artist. Nonetheless, I came into the week with an open mind and ‘OneRepublic’ exceeded my expectations.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised in their sound and the depth of their debut album. Throughout ‘Dreaming Out Loud’, I hear many similarities to Isaac Slade and The Fray. While ‘Over My Head’ has had an impact on me, the rest of the Fray’s work is hit or miss. OneRepublic is a bit more on the pop side, but I think they are more consistent with their sound and delivery. The first two tracks are a little catchy and Ryan has a nice voice, but there is a blatant lack of substance to these. ‘Stop and Stare’ was the first standout track for me. The slower melody allows you to focus on the lyrics and the message being conveyed. Perhaps we all need to stop and reflect on who we’ve become. It is also worth noting that the two rhythm guitars really added a lot of value to this track. I think I could like ‘Apologize’ more if they only repeated the chorus maybe 5 times instead of 10 plus. Outside of that, it sucks you in and is relatable. I will say that I thought Kris Allen butchered it. ‘Goodbye’ apathy features the piano for the first time on the album and has a lot of the qualities in it that I liked about ‘Over My Head’. The lyrics were also very clever, although I find the word ‘apathy’ in every other song throughout the rest of the album. I love the violin in ‘All Fall Down’. Some tracks like to open with it and then fade it out. This track features this wonderful instrument throughout and I love the alternative way of stating ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ or ‘All That Shimmers will surely fade Away.’ ‘Tyrant’ takes a bit of an unexpected religious turn to it, but they convey their message in a way that is not too abrasive and communicate it in a way that fits with the rest of the album. After a few slower and weaker tracks, I found another highlight in ‘Someone to Save You.’ This has an interesting take on a love song in that it isn’t a breakup song or a take me back song. It is more of a we are starting to lose our spark and how can we rekindle those feelings.
After a solid intro track, ‘Waking Up’ introduces me to my favorite track of the week in ‘All the Right Moves.’ Between the hooks, the unconventional arrangement, and the violin, I found it difficult to stop hitting repeat and moving on. ‘Secrets’ was probably the weakest track of the week despite the violin. The chorus was on the corny song and the backing vocals were excruciating. ‘Everybody Loves Me’ takes a step in the wrong direction with a bit of a rap and the conceited lyrics. After another corny track in ‘Good Life’, I forget what week it is and think I am listening to the Backstreet Boys on ‘All This Time.’ Fortunately it is quickly followed by a very strong track in ‘Fear.’ The violin, piano and soft melody help portray the innocence of childhood they were aiming for when telling this story. Outside of 3 tracks, this was a much different and weaker album.
ReplyDeleteThere were flashes of brilliance here and there, so I will keep an eye on future releases. Hopefully ‘Waking Up’ was just a sophomore slump. This week did change my outlook at this group and I learned quite a bit about their relevance and their impact on pop music today. Thank you for the introduction.
I know I haven't been commenting on my own stuff lately, but I feel the need to this week. I think "Dreaming Out Loud" is a well-named album, as many of the tracks have a dreamy quality to them. Unlike Thomas and Beth, this album starts off strong for me. "Say (All I Need)" was the band's third single off the first album. I don't think it got much rotation on the radio, but after I saw the band live this one is the one that stuck for me. The melody grows to something so big and emotional by the end, and the lyrics play up the little things in life, which are important to remember. Wikipedia says "Mercy" was the fourth single, but I don't think it ever hit this area. Regardless, it is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Like "Say" this song is emotionally powerful in Ryan's lyrical delivery.
ReplyDelete"Stop and Stare" was the band's third most popular single (after "Apologize" and "All the Right Moves") and is the most lyrically interesting for me. Beth touched on it a little, but I think it's deeper than that. He feels the need to find himself, out on his own. In the song, and for some others, that’s translated into “I need to leave town.” I remember that feeling just out of high school, when it was uncool to stick around here. I spent three semesters trying to make it work for me at SIUE before I finally left for Eastern, and my only regret is that I didn’t leave sooner. But it’s not because I was “stuck” in Alton or that Alton is or was uncool. It’s because I found it hard to grow up when I longed for my high school group of friends and my comfort zone when everything around me was changing except for me. At Eastern and my internship in Rock Island, I learned to be an adult on my own, which was no doubt important, and I enjoyed my time – but I also learned to realize that I could be whoever I wanted to be in New York or Austin or Chicago or at home. It even got to the point that I became rabid about defending St. Louis to the death (thus why I loathe Chicago), at which point I realized that after college, home was where I wanted to be at least for a little while. Don’t get me wrong, I would kill to live in Madison if that’s where life takes me one day, but for now my surroundings and my location don’t make me who I am – my personality and my actions do – which is something he is realizing in the song. “I think I’m moving but I go nowhere” – he is running from something, and he thinks its from his boring town and former life until he realizes that it’s something about himself that he’s running from, something that doesn’t change no matter where he moves. And now we return to our regularly scheduled program…
Contrary to others, I like the original version of “Apologize” better than the Timbaland remix. And I don’t think Kris Allen butchered it at all. It wasn’t his best performance, but what the judges (and I) didn’t like is that he didn’t take any of his creative license with the song, and sang it exactly this way. Now that his solo album is out, I know why. This song is really similar to Kris’ style. But you’re all entitled to your own opinions of course. “Goodbye Apathy,” has a great flow going with that piano line and the chorus. “All Fall Down” is probably my favorite track on the album and that has a lot to do with the violins. They add a classiness and a certain depth to a pop song that I can really appreciate. “Tyrant” is OK, but it’s not my favorite. It takes on a darker vibe than the others. I don’t really like the song “Prodigal.” It’s slow and blah. “Won’t Stop” is kind of cute – actually sounds like a Kris Allen song for me. The latter half of the album is certainly weaker than the beginning, with two bright spots. “Someone to Save You” has such an electric emotional energy to it, and kind of brightens up this section of the album. It actually gave me the chills. “Come Home” is the other bright spot. It’s sad, but sweet.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention, "Come Home" was written in the P.O.V. of Tedder's female friend whose new husband was sent to Iraq. Kind of sheds a different light on the song if you go back and listen to it.
ReplyDelete“Waking Up” has a different feel to it, and when I first heard this album I wasn’t having it. I wanted to do this week partially because I didn’t understand why critics preferred this album over the last and I was having such a negative reaction to it. What I came to find out is the answer to my question from the beginning of the week. The real beauty of pop music is its ability to become infectious. If you listen to pop radio regularly, you’ll notice that sometimes even the most annoying songs you’ve ever heard become catchy on repeat listens. Now, I’ve listened to some songs I’ve loved on the first few listens that I just couldn’t listen to anymore after they got old. That’s why pop music interests me so. I can hear some of these songs 400 times in one week and like them better than the first 200 times I heard the song. While creating a great song/album with a lot of depth and something to think about is certainly something to achieve, I say there’s also something in creating multiple songs that sustain listenability over millions of repeat plays, while managing to retain some sort of unique signature. OneRepublic’s is the fullness of their music compared to lots of other pop artists.
ReplyDelete“Made for You” is a great intro track, with a great piano line, catchy chorus and smooth feel. That is, until the end, which is really just a setup for the most popular single to date off this album. I didn’t like “All the Right Moves” at first – at all. Now it gets to me, and gets me super hyper and giddy. It’s like crack. It might not be good for you, but it sure it catchy. Like the last album, this one is aptly named for its more “awake” vibe. From here, we move to the band’s latest single, “Secrets.” Again, I didn’t really like it until I heard it on the radio several times, and now it’s one of my favorite songs on this album. I love the chorus. I don’t think “Everybody Loves Me” is as terrible as everyone else seems to think. I did some repeat listening of the lyrics, and knowing that Tedder writes from different points of view than his own (i.e. “Come Home” that I mentioned earlier as one example), I don’t think he’s saying that he’s into himself at all. If anything, I think he’s taking a sarcastic view of some celebrities who do think like this but would never come out and say it. I mean, think about all the celebrities who are famous for nothing and all the regular people who are famous because of stupid reality TV shows or singers that we all know are terrible but seem to be conquering the world at the moment. If this was him singing about himself, I don’t think the lyrics would be so blatantly conceited. After all, this is only their second album and he has no basis to think this way. If he does, this is out of left field because many of their other songs are about self doubt, finding oneself and/or are mostly modest. By far, my favorite track on this album is “Good Life.” It’s so hopeful, positive and uplifting. It’s fun and pretty at the same time. I love it. After that, the album doesn’t offer much to me. Again, a weaker last half. “Marching On” apparently was released as a single somewhere but not around here to my knowledge. It’s not terrible but not good.
An overall stronger first album, but brighter bright spots on the second album for me right now. And those are my two cents.
A band like OneRepublic might have saved the stagnating ratings of my former radio station, The River; too bad they came along a year too late. Like everyone else, “Apologize” has been my only exposure to them before this week; it’s an expertly crafted pop tune that still stands up well 4 years later. We’ll see if they can build upon that success or if they become just another one-hit wonder.
ReplyDeleteI’m immediately taken back to Imogen Heap week with the synth-stabs opening “Say”; they build to a full, arena-ready sound that is directly influenced by Coldplay and U2. Tedder’s time in the studio producing and writing is on full display already. I’m at “Stop and Stare” and I can easily see this playing during a teen drama on the CW. His falsetto is very reminiscent of a young Elton John on “Apologize” and the bass keeps my head nodding. The comparisons keep on coming with the piano-driven Keane influenced “Goodbye, Apathy”; Tedder’s arrangements borrow most of the best aspects from today’s modern adult contemporary artist. The lyrics on “Tyrant” are ridiculous; “informant moon” and “crippled birds” are incomprehensible analogies that come of pretentious. I will admit that even the lackluster tracks were very listenable; they never veer too far off the track of simple guitars riffs and pianos that helped make their doppelgangers The Fray very popular. I thought they were covering Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” with the opening piano of “Come Home”; it’s embarrassingly similar and the fact that they include home in the title doesn’t help. Overall, their appeal is undeniable; they certainly aren’t creating a new sound, merely fusing elements that have proven successful for other acts in their genre.
On the initial listen of Waking Up there isn’t a homerun on this album like “Apologize”, there is more restraint than I expected here. “All The Right Moves” is very mechanical; I don’t get the feeling of a band playing here but more of Ryan laying vocals over a pre-produced track. I like the violin beginning of “Secrets”, but once again producer Ryan steps in with a booming chorus that wouldn’t be out of place on a Rhianna album. The ever-evolving arrangement in “Missing Persons 1 & 2” is very nice, but the lyrics are quite confusing and a bit ambiguous. I guess I should be a bit more forgiving because when it all boils down to it, this is music made for a pop audience; I shouldn’t be so critical on lyrical depth. “All This Time” and “Fear” are quite snoozy back-to-back. The self-titled track is aptly titled, as it seems the band is awoken with a marching tune that dissolves into a lovely orchestrated piano-centered piece. Continuing the marching theme with “Marching On” it’s a very straightforward song that is beat driven. It feels like this album just never got off the ground, I didn’t have a connection with Waking Up as I did with Dreaming. After listening to both albums, I’m not ready to write them off as one-hit wonders, but they have yet to eclipse “Apologize”. I feel like they were trying to move away from the formulated pop tunes from Dreaming but didn’t quite venture out far enough. We’ll see where their next album takes them.
ReplyDeleteHaving been heavily exposed to Top 40 radio over the past few years, I've always thought that OneRepublic stood out just a little bit from the other mass-appeal bands that currently dominate the airwaves. There always seemed to be a bit more artistry behind their music....sort of like a more pop oriented Coldplay or Keane. While listening to the band this week, I've discovered that they are fairly typical of popular bands with the singles being the best songs on each album (save one song on the first album, but I'll get to that). Most of the rest of their songs don't exactly fit the filler role that's also typical of popular albums, however, so the choice of OneRepublic as the band to represent this type of music was a good one.
ReplyDelete'Dreaming Out Loud' starts off on the highest note possible for these guys. "Say (All I Need)" has been my favorite song from the band since the first time I heard it on the radio, and along with Usher's "Love In This Club" it was one of my two favorite songs on pop radio from 2008. This song has a sort of grand feel to it, which in my opinion is exactly the sort of sound that this band should be reaching for. There's a good build up of tension throughout the course of the song, and it rightfully leads to an explosion to close out the song. To me, unless you're introducing a sort of theme (either lyrically or setting the scene for a dominant sound for the rest of the record), a bombastic, grab-you-by-the-throat type song is the perfect choice to open an album. "Say" fits this bill perfectly, but at the same time sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the album to reach. "Mercy" does a decent job with this, however the song just screams "Grey's Anatomy soundtrack" to me....but then again, that's a theme that continues throughout the rest of the album. "Stop and Stare" is the second of the three big singles on the album and is also my least favorite of the three. I agree with Laura in her interpretation of the song for the most part, although I think the part about moving is more metaphorical, as Ryan seems to me to be trying to move away from a difficult time in his life, but the weight of his past is holding him in place. "Apologize" is, of course, the band's biggest hit, and was so for good reason. Both versions featured on the album are good, but I've always preferred the Timbaland version a little more. The addition of Tim's routine handclaps and syncopated beats really fit the song, in my opinion, and overall the song just takes on a more epic quality on the remix. The biggest find of the week for me was "All Fall Down". The song is chill-inducing with the beautiful string section throughout the song..."chill-inducing" is never a descriptive phrase that I thought I would use with this band. Lyrically it's nothing special, but in spite of that the way Ryan's voice sounds over the top of the instrumentation is simply beautiful and will probably be the lasting impression I take away from this album. Unfortunately the album bogs down quite a bit after this song with a few pretty bad tracks, but the front half of the record was enough to make a return to the album sometime in the future highly probable.
'Dreaming Out Loud' Album Rating: 56%
'Waking Up' is proof to the old adage that success leads to indulgence. Lyrically, the whole album seems to be about the band taking the massive success of their previous album anything but in stride. "Made For You" is a more generic idea about success than some of the later songs, as it seems to be about the average fans love and devotion to the band and how they feel like the songs are directly written for them. At the same time, though, for a band with one album to have pretensions that a listener is that devoted to them already is pretty annoying. "All the Right Moves" is currently the biggest hit off of the album, and when I first heard it I couldn't believe that it was OneRepublic. I didn't like the song at first, but I suppose I fell into the trap that pop radio execs expect listeners to fall into, as repeated hearings of the song caused me to like it in the end. "Everybody Loves Me" is hopefully the worst song the band will ever write. The faux-rapping is reminiscent of a bad imitation of Anthony Kiedis, and it's lyrical ambiguity as to whether Ryan's either being horribly, unforgivably conceited or attempting to mock those who are that way is in itself a conceit that someone who's not a great writer shouldn't attempt to tackle, simply because it raises this ambiguity without a point of reference in the past to show which side he's on. I thought that I had heard "Good Life" on the radio before, but Laura tells me that I haven't. Either way, it turns out that it's going to be the next single released from the album, so maybe I traveled to the future or something. Anyway, this is second of the two songs on the album that I could get into, although once again it's about the fortunes that have come the bands way due to their success....but in this case you can't blame them for wanting to enjoy the good life, and in a way rubbing it in the faces of their friends. The rest of the album is just really bland, and ultimately lacks any of the hooks that are present in the bands best songs. Nothing was able to reach out and grab a hold of me, so really there's not much I can say about the rest of the record. The sophomore slump seems to be in full effect here, and hopefully Ryan can dial some things back for their next album and create some more worthwhile music.
ReplyDelete'Waking Up' Album Rating: 42%