tammyy2j
25-01-2010, 12:10
If you're a pop fan, your life would probably be a little bit worse without Ryan Tedder. The 30-year-old songsmith is responsible for some of the biggest tunes of recent years - Leona's 'Bleeding Love' and Beyoncé's 'Halo' among them - and he also finds time to front pop-rockers OneRepublic, who scored a smash of their own with 2007's 'Apologize'. As the band release new album Waking Up, we took the opportunity to pick Ryan's formidable musical brain.
What's the new single, 'All The Right Moves', about?
"It's kind of a self-deprecating anthem and it's about how we've felt as a band at certain times. When OneRepublic came out, because of the other writing and producing I'd done, and because Timbaland was associated with our first single, we got completely discarded by the critics. Even if OneRepublic made the coolest art record ever, we'd never be able to erase the memory of how we broke. This song's aimed at all the cool-ass bands that we'll never be."
Another new song, 'Secrets', features the line "Don't care if the critics ever jump in line". Did reviews of your first LP play on your mind while you wrote this one?
"Definitely, and 'All The Right Moves' and 'Secrets' were written back-to-back, which is why there's some continuity there. What affected me is that the first album was intensely personal for me. You know, 'Stop And Stare' was written from the point of total desperation - I was beyond broke, I kept getting eviction notices and I really felt like I was watching my life passing me by. But because I happened to put these feelings to catchy melodies, I got torn apart in the reviews. I was hurt by that, so I decided to have some fun on this second album and kind of throw it back a little."
Do you feel pressure to match the success of 'Apologize'?
"At this point I don't, because I've proven now that I'm not a one-trick pony. There was an initial fear of 'Oh s**t! How do I beat this?' The answer is you don't. When you have a hit like 'Apologize', you treat it as an anomaly. I mean, I could have put it out a year before or a year later and it probably wouldn't have done the same thing. When a song transcends the way 'Apologize' did, it's like there's a cultural eclipse where everything lines up and works in your favour. You can't choreograph that. All you can do is write the best songs you know how and try to push the envelope a bit."
This album's certainly more varied than your debut. Was that a conscious decision?
"It wasn't intentional to start with. I only made two decisions when we started this album: one, I'd have a bigger hand in producing it; two, there had to be more uptempo songs. Last time we toured for a year-and-a-half on a bunch of slow and frickin' midtempos! By the time our first album came out, it was almost three-and-a-half years old, because we'd been signed, shelved, dropped and then re-signed again. We'd moved beyond those songs by the time we toured them, so this time we wanted to have more fun. We still wound up with one or two too many midtempos, but we loved the songs too much to leave them off."
Which other artists are you writing and producing for at the moment?
"Actually I've just been in the studio with Noisettes doing their next single and it's a total curveball. Man, it's a crazy dance anthem! It's quirky, it's kinda tongue-in-cheek and it's a one-listen tune. I'm also working with Adele at the moment, and then I'm working with Katy Perry in February and trying to set something up with Gossip."
You've also been in the studio with Cheryl Cole. How's that going?
"I'm trying to get it as personal as possible. Cheryl likes something real. I had a long meeting with the head of her label and he said she doesn't want kitschy throwaway dance anthems - basically if Britney would sing it, she doesn't want it. Actually, there's a song I did with Alicia Keys that was finished too late for her album and I'm convinced it's the perfect song for Cheryl Cole. I'm desperately trying to get the demo out of her label's grasp so I can play it for Cheryl. It's a ballad in my sense, so it's got massive drums and it really moves, and it'll give you goosebumps when you hear it."
Our new X Factor champion, Joe McElderry, has apparently said he'd like to work with you. Would you be up for that?
"You know, I'll be honest and admit that I haven't actually heard him sing. We were touring the States while X Factor was on, so I'm completely out the loop, but then as I flew here I read a magazine article saying he'd specifically requested me. I'm sure Simon will be reaching out to me at some point. Usually with the X Factor winners, they wait until the eleventh hour to call me. I've worked with Simon and Syco a lot and they know they'll get the best from me when they've already developed the artist's sound enough. I don't like being the guinea pig with new artists."
One of your most recent productions was Leona's 'Happy'. Why do you think it didn't perform better in the US?
"I know exactly why and I actually told the label what was going to happen. In the US, unless you're Justin Timberlake or Beyoncé, you cannot put out a song and not be in the country when it comes out. Leona was gone for six weeks when 'Happy' came out because she was promoting the record in other countries - it wasn't her fault; she just couldn't be two places in once. I had radio stations telling me that they thought 'Happy' was the single biggest ballad they'd come across in ten years, but that if Leona didn't come over here and promote it, it was going to fall. On top of that, America's consumed with Lady GaGa and dance music right now, so it's not the best time for ballads anyway. When everything on the radio is blasting out at 120 bpm, a song like 'Happy' almost sounds out-of-place."
Do you think they should have waited and released 'Happy' later?
"Yes. I asked them to do what they did with 'Bleeding Love'. They should have waited until it became a proper hit in loads of different countries and then put it out in the States. For whatever reason, it had already been decided that the release was going to be simultaneous. From the day 'Happy' came out I never felt completely confident. It was very disheartening because I've never put so much time into one song."
Is it too late now?
"The only way 'Happy' will work in the States now is if Leona has another hit first. For example, Kings of Leon put out 'Sex On Fire' over here and it did OK, but then they put out 'Use Somebody' and it took forever but became massive. Guess what they just put out again? 'Sex On Fire'. If Leona has a substantial hit with her next US single - and I don't know what song it's going to be - 'Happy' might have a chance off the back of it."
OneRepublic's single, 'All The Right Moves', and album, Waking Up, are out now.
What's the new single, 'All The Right Moves', about?
"It's kind of a self-deprecating anthem and it's about how we've felt as a band at certain times. When OneRepublic came out, because of the other writing and producing I'd done, and because Timbaland was associated with our first single, we got completely discarded by the critics. Even if OneRepublic made the coolest art record ever, we'd never be able to erase the memory of how we broke. This song's aimed at all the cool-ass bands that we'll never be."
Another new song, 'Secrets', features the line "Don't care if the critics ever jump in line". Did reviews of your first LP play on your mind while you wrote this one?
"Definitely, and 'All The Right Moves' and 'Secrets' were written back-to-back, which is why there's some continuity there. What affected me is that the first album was intensely personal for me. You know, 'Stop And Stare' was written from the point of total desperation - I was beyond broke, I kept getting eviction notices and I really felt like I was watching my life passing me by. But because I happened to put these feelings to catchy melodies, I got torn apart in the reviews. I was hurt by that, so I decided to have some fun on this second album and kind of throw it back a little."
Do you feel pressure to match the success of 'Apologize'?
"At this point I don't, because I've proven now that I'm not a one-trick pony. There was an initial fear of 'Oh s**t! How do I beat this?' The answer is you don't. When you have a hit like 'Apologize', you treat it as an anomaly. I mean, I could have put it out a year before or a year later and it probably wouldn't have done the same thing. When a song transcends the way 'Apologize' did, it's like there's a cultural eclipse where everything lines up and works in your favour. You can't choreograph that. All you can do is write the best songs you know how and try to push the envelope a bit."
This album's certainly more varied than your debut. Was that a conscious decision?
"It wasn't intentional to start with. I only made two decisions when we started this album: one, I'd have a bigger hand in producing it; two, there had to be more uptempo songs. Last time we toured for a year-and-a-half on a bunch of slow and frickin' midtempos! By the time our first album came out, it was almost three-and-a-half years old, because we'd been signed, shelved, dropped and then re-signed again. We'd moved beyond those songs by the time we toured them, so this time we wanted to have more fun. We still wound up with one or two too many midtempos, but we loved the songs too much to leave them off."
Which other artists are you writing and producing for at the moment?
"Actually I've just been in the studio with Noisettes doing their next single and it's a total curveball. Man, it's a crazy dance anthem! It's quirky, it's kinda tongue-in-cheek and it's a one-listen tune. I'm also working with Adele at the moment, and then I'm working with Katy Perry in February and trying to set something up with Gossip."
You've also been in the studio with Cheryl Cole. How's that going?
"I'm trying to get it as personal as possible. Cheryl likes something real. I had a long meeting with the head of her label and he said she doesn't want kitschy throwaway dance anthems - basically if Britney would sing it, she doesn't want it. Actually, there's a song I did with Alicia Keys that was finished too late for her album and I'm convinced it's the perfect song for Cheryl Cole. I'm desperately trying to get the demo out of her label's grasp so I can play it for Cheryl. It's a ballad in my sense, so it's got massive drums and it really moves, and it'll give you goosebumps when you hear it."
Our new X Factor champion, Joe McElderry, has apparently said he'd like to work with you. Would you be up for that?
"You know, I'll be honest and admit that I haven't actually heard him sing. We were touring the States while X Factor was on, so I'm completely out the loop, but then as I flew here I read a magazine article saying he'd specifically requested me. I'm sure Simon will be reaching out to me at some point. Usually with the X Factor winners, they wait until the eleventh hour to call me. I've worked with Simon and Syco a lot and they know they'll get the best from me when they've already developed the artist's sound enough. I don't like being the guinea pig with new artists."
One of your most recent productions was Leona's 'Happy'. Why do you think it didn't perform better in the US?
"I know exactly why and I actually told the label what was going to happen. In the US, unless you're Justin Timberlake or Beyoncé, you cannot put out a song and not be in the country when it comes out. Leona was gone for six weeks when 'Happy' came out because she was promoting the record in other countries - it wasn't her fault; she just couldn't be two places in once. I had radio stations telling me that they thought 'Happy' was the single biggest ballad they'd come across in ten years, but that if Leona didn't come over here and promote it, it was going to fall. On top of that, America's consumed with Lady GaGa and dance music right now, so it's not the best time for ballads anyway. When everything on the radio is blasting out at 120 bpm, a song like 'Happy' almost sounds out-of-place."
Do you think they should have waited and released 'Happy' later?
"Yes. I asked them to do what they did with 'Bleeding Love'. They should have waited until it became a proper hit in loads of different countries and then put it out in the States. For whatever reason, it had already been decided that the release was going to be simultaneous. From the day 'Happy' came out I never felt completely confident. It was very disheartening because I've never put so much time into one song."
Is it too late now?
"The only way 'Happy' will work in the States now is if Leona has another hit first. For example, Kings of Leon put out 'Sex On Fire' over here and it did OK, but then they put out 'Use Somebody' and it took forever but became massive. Guess what they just put out again? 'Sex On Fire'. If Leona has a substantial hit with her next US single - and I don't know what song it's going to be - 'Happy' might have a chance off the back of it."
OneRepublic's single, 'All The Right Moves', and album, Waking Up, are out now.