OneRepublic doesn’t really need any introduction, since they’ve been immensely successful and has had countless hits over the last 15 years. The band is preparing a special show for their Hungarian fans this Saturday at the iconic Heroes’ Square, as they close MTV’s Music Week that took place before this year’s MTV EMAs in Budapest. We had the chance to ask their frontman, Ryan Tedder a few questions at an exclusive roundtable interview, where he told us about what we can expect from this show and next year’s show, as well, what’s one thing that he can’t go on tour without, why he loves Budapest so much and their future as a band – interview with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic.
I’m very excited to see you tomorrow live on stage! What can we expect? Can we expect hits, but also some new material?
Lots of hits, lots of songs! When we do concert, especially in places where we haven’t been for a while, we’re not trying to… We’re not that artist that’s like, „hey, here’s 5 new songs that nobody’s heard”. We actually research and look at in each country the streaming history and the download history to figure our which songs are the most beloved in those territories and we try to aim our set at the audience and change the setlist based on the songs that reacted the most in that territory. So you’ll get a Hungarian set! A lot of hits, maybe one or two new ones like „Run”, „Rescue Me”, songs that have done really well this past year. Yeah, it’s gonna be a hell of a lot of fun. High, high energy. Like, tons of energy.
The MTV EMAs are always about inclusivity, but this year, even more so, now that it’s happening in Budapest. Are you gonna convey this message of inclusivity in your performance?
Inclusivity to me is, I come from a very conservative, Christian, church upbringing, very religious, and it was not inclusive. So I spent years of being surrounded by racism, extreme racism as a kid and as a teenager, and I knew in my gut, in my heart, it never sat well with me. I quit my basketball team in high school because of how racist the kids on the team were. I’ve been surrounded by the opposite of inclusivity for a fair amount of my life, and I have no tolerance for it. Our music is about inclusivity. It’s about loving yourself and showing love to others. Life is so short, so the idea of spending time hating anybody for anything that’s different is absurd to me. Just go on about your business, live your life, love others as you wanna be loved, that’s the message of OneRepublic.
MUSICDAILY: Do you guys have a pre-show ritual that you always do before every concert of yours?
Um, yeah, kind of. Everyone has their own things. So, Zach reads books, like, quietly reads. He has to be in a room where it’s completely quiet and he likes to read or watch something with his in-ears in so he can’t hear anything. I like to go, I’m kinda still sweating, because I just ran around Budapest. I’m a big runner. That’s how I clear my head, that’s also how I get my lungs and my voice together, by running or working out. So, my pre-show ritual is, I try to run about 5 miles, which I think, if I’m doing the math, about 8 kilometres, roughly, before a show. You know, everybody kinda does something different. I would say the only ritual we have is, we like it to be quiet. I don’t like having people backstage, I don’t like having people in the green room. I like the door shut and locked. I actually don’t like to hang out at the venue. So, at the arena or whatever the venue is. I don’t like to be there until the moment it’s time to go on stage, ’cause I start to feel pressure and stress and it starts to affect my head. I like to be away from the location and then I show up 2 minutes before we go on stage, is right when I show up.
I wanna ask about your new album „Human”. It came out in August and I read that your band just started a new chapter with this album. What does it mean?
I mean, we released a song yesterday that’s in a movie, called „Sunshine” that already is shifting our sound a little bit. We think that „Human”… songs like „Rescue Me”, „Run”, „Someday”, even „Lose Somebody” with Kygo, they’re very OneRepublic-sounding songs. Which is great, but 15 years in, I’m at the point where I’m like, okay, it’s time to start experimenting with different sounds and taking some risks musically. I still wanna have great music and songs that the world connects with. When a song is streaming very well, hundreds of millions or billions, like „Rescue Me” or „Run”, all that tells us is, the world loves this song, whether people are listening to it at work or school or dancing or at a wedding or whatever… That’s all that we’re trying to do from the beginning, is write songs that become the soundtrack to people’s lives. Songs that attache themselves to important events in people’s lives, whether that’s your first kiss or that’s getting divorced. Whatever it is, impacting people’s lives with music. As a musician, as an artist, though, I’m ready to shift our sound a little bit and see if people let us do it. You know what I mean? How far can we… and „Sunshine” isn’t taking it terribly far, but I’m rapping in the song. It’s basically us doing like, OutKast. I’m trying to think of what would Andre 3000 do right now, if I were him? I wanna be able to musically be more adventurous in the next OneRepublic album. We’re inspired by The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, some OutKast, I would say maybe more fun influences. And sonically, we’re gonna take it on a trip ’cause it’s time to shift it up a little bit.
I checked your Instagram and I saw you were walking in Budapest. How do you like the city and have you already had time to go to Heroes’ Square, where the concert will be?
I’ve already been to Heroes’ Square a few times and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s epic. I’ve been to St Stephen’s Basilica yesterday which is gorgeous and it’s only the 6th largest basilica in Hungary so I need to see the largest! I don’t know where that one is. I love every city that we travel to with OneRepublic. I think we’re a very unique band. Most artists that I work with, that I know, like 99% of them, when they go on tour, doesn’t matter what city they’re in, they stay in their hotel. Maybe, maybe, maybe they go out once and see one thing, right? The last time I was here, it’s Pest Castle, right? Is that what’s that called? Across the Danube. Spent the whole day there, walking on the Pest side of the Danube, walked down to that old hotel. I’ve run around the city at this point probably 7 or 8 times. Last night, we went out to a very, very, really cool ruin bar that was about 10 minutes from the hotel. That was wild, I’ve never seen anything like that before. The ruin bar situation is awesome in Hungary, or in Budapest. We try to take in as much as we can culturally every time we’re in a foreign city. Every time. If I went to Cape Town, South Africa, or Tel Aviv, or Paris, or Sao Paulo, I could tell you which restaurants are the best restaurants, I could tell you what coffee shops are the best coffee shops. Espresso Embassy, or whatever it’s called, we went to yesterday. I have my things that I like to do in foreign cities. I like to see the tourist stuff, I like cathedrals because we don’t have them in America, like, we have two. I think churches are sacred, beautiful places, so I like to visit the churches and I like to taste local, Hungarian food. I know that tomorrow night, where we’re going to dinner, is a very specific Hungarian restaurant that only serves Hungarian food. I like to drink the local beer. We love Budapest, I think it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We try to take an appreciation for every city. We’re gonna be in Vienna in a couple of days, next week, so we’ll a do the same thing in Vienna. I write down lists of all the places that I like in every city. Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow… I keep a running tab of all my favorite places.
MUSICDAILY: Your life will be about touring for the next I don’t know how many months. So I’m wondering, what’s one thing that you can’t go on tour without?
I would say, at this point, the thing that I can’t go without… I have to have multiple sets of AirPods because I’m always listening to music, I’m always on phone calls and FaceTiming, and I lose those AirPods all the time. They fall out of your pocket! And so, I always have to buy an extra set every tour. In travelling, honestly, the only thing that would stress me out is not having AirPods or not having a charger. Right? ‘Cause anything else at this point pretty much, socks, underwear, all that stuff, you can always buy that stuff. But sometimes, you get to a place where they don’t have an Apple store. As generic as that is, that’s probably my answer. I’ve gotta have my AirPods and my charger.
MUSICDAILY: I mean, that’s really relatable, thank you.
Little bit about the future. Your band is coming back to Hungary next year, you’re gonna have a tour. What can we expect from that concert?
Completely new visuals, completely new set, completely new everything. The look, the merchandise, the sound, the set… Obviously, we’re still gonna play every hit we ever had and some new music, but everything else… In 2022, we’re redoing everything, top dow. It’ll be a completely brand new experience. Completely brand new.
You’ll also be at the MTV EMA on Sunday. Do you have any good friends among the nominees that you expect will win?
Yeah, I’m friends with Ed Sheeran, I produced and wrote Lil Nas X’s most recent single „THATS WHAT I WANT” and I’m working on new music with him, now. I’m always the fan of the underdog, and I’ve always felt that Lil Nas has felt like the underdog. Everyone doubted him when he came out. After „Old Town Road”, I remember people saying „oh, he’s just a one hit wonder” and the moment I met him, I was like, „no, this kid’s different”. He’s different, and he’s gonna win, and so I’m always rooting for Nas. And speaking of inclusivity and the most inclusive thing of all, he knows how to push people’s buttons and how to change the conversation, even if it means he has to shock you, right? I think he’s been one of the single most important figures in the last 20 years for LGBTQ community and the conversation around sexuality and gender fluidity and all these things. He’s not letting people ignore the issue so I think that culturally, he’s a very important artist so I’m super supportive and I hope he wins. I don’t know all the categories, I’m presenting Best Song. There’s a lot of artists that I’m friends with that I hope win. I hope Ed wins something, I don’t know if BLACKPINK is up for anything, or Lisa, but like, I would hope that they win something. I love BLACKPINK, and I love Lisa and Jennie and Rosé, all of them.
Thank you, Ryan! Good luck tomorrow!
Thank you everyone! Thank you! Bye!
Bye! Have a nice day!
You have a great day!
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