OneRepublic want to be ‘counted as stars’ after writing for Beyonce, Taylor Swift

RYAN Tedder writes songs for Beyonce and Taylor Swift. But that doesn’t mean he’s forgetting his own band, OneRepublic.

American band OneRepublic in Sydney. Eddie Fisher, Brent Kutzle, Ryan Tedder, Zach Filkins, Drew Brown. Photo: Bob Barker.

RYAN Tedder writes the songs that get stuck in your head. He does it with his band mates for OneRepublic and with everyone else for their records.

His roll call of chart-topping co-write or production collaborations reads like a Spotify postmillennial playlist of pop perfection.

It kicks off with the Leona Lewis debut hit Bleeding Love, followed by Beyonce’s Halo, Jordin Sparks’ Battlefield, Adele’s Rumour Has It, Turning Tables and Remedy, B.o.B.’s So Good, Ellie Goulding’s Burn, Delta Goodrem’s Heart Hypnotic, James Blunt’s Bonfire Heart, Ella Henderson’s Ghost, Maroon 5’s Maps, Taylor Swift’s Welcome To New York, Zedd’s I Want You To Know (featuring Selena Gomez).

There’s more but they are the mega performers compared to just the big hits.

Beyonce and Tedder co-wrote her signature song Halo. Picture: Jason Miller/Getty Images.

Leona Lewis kicked off her career with Bleeding Love. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images.

And then there is OneRepublic’s raft of earworms across three records. Everyone knows their songs whether you can name them or not because they have been everywhere since the band broke through with the Timbaland remix of their song Apologize in 2007.

Since then there have been the equally inescapable Counting Stars, Something I Need, Stop and Stare and If I Lose Myself.

The band’s metrics, as they call statistics these days, are a bean counter’s delight. There are two billion video views, 1.3 billion streams, more than 43 million digital downloads and 7.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

In Australia alone, they have sold almost 800,000 copies of their hit singles.

Tedder and his band mates — Zach Filkins, Drew Brown, Eddie Fisher and Brent Kutzle — want more.

They are currently on a whirlwind international tour to promote new single Wherever I Go. It is now a conventional industry strategy for artists to hit the ground to launch a single rather than wait to tour off the back of an album.

It sets up future single releases by strengthening relationships with the industry gatekeepers and the diehard fans.

Tedder, an artist and businessman given to calling it like it is, says Wherever I Go is an introduction to their fourth record and not its biggest potential hit.

And as his discography proves, he knows a hit when he writes one.

“It’s doing really well; there will be songs that will be better in terms of metrics,” he says.

When asked why he didn’t release one of them as the first single, he points to Drake, the most streamed artist in the world right now and a seemingly ubiquitous cultural presence.

“Let’s look at Drake who is having his cultural Zeitgeist moment now. People know One Dance and Hotline Bling, from a year ago, but he has also put out other songs and can you name one?” he says. I can’t, but they are Right Hand, Jumpman, Summer Sixteen and Pop Style.

“Wherever I Go was going to be the first single or not on the album. Artists want to see what they can get away with, if they are true artists in my opinion.

“And when do you put out your best song on the album as the first single? When there is not another single on the album.”

Tedder forecasts there will be at least five singles from their as yet untitled fourth record. And you sense that he wants each to be bigger than the one before even as they remain one of a handful of bands in the world who can also shift more than decent album units, with their 2013 record Native selling almost five million copies worldwide.

OneRepublic plan multiple visits to Australia to launch their fourth record. Picture: Supplied.

“I think I’ve gotten tired of being as quiet (achievers) as we have been,” he says.

“I don’t know if another band has done the same kind of numbers with such a lot profile. Maybe having a higher profile, and I’m not necessarily talking about fame, would change things and I’m ready for that.”

He cites U2 frontman Bono — Tedder has been working with the Irish supergroup on their new record — as encouraging him to “own it”, which translates to wanting the kind of success they enjoy.

“We have some records on this album which I think are the best songs I have done for OneRepublic,” he says.

Did he hold back any potential chart-toppers from A-list pop artists for his band?

“This is the first time I was very selfish,” he says.

“I did U2, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and The Killers and I figured if I am going to do four or five acts with a week for each in a year, the rest of the time should be OneRepublic,” he says.

“I have spent more time in the past two years travelling for OneRepublic, being away from family and friends, so why doesn’t it deserve my 100 per cent attention. I think we can be one of the best.”

Tedder signals his strategy to conquer the world will include a lot of face time and plans regular visits to Australia to fuel the momentum of their profile and popularity.

While many gatekeepers keep a close eye on the American and British chart and playlist activity, the rest of the world watches what Australian music fans embrace as early adopters.

“We will be back in Australia a lot on this album. We love it down here and it’s time to stop f---ing around and put our foot down here,” he says.

That may give him more time and opportunity to pursue some collaborations with Australian artists he admires, including reconnecting with Matt Corby. The pair wrote together for the first attempt at Corby’s solo album which the artist scrapped before making Telluric.

HEAR: Wherever I Go (Universal) is out now.

Originally published as OneRepublic want to be ‘counted as stars’ after writing for Beyonce, Taylor Swift