There\u2019s something so comfortable about pop music, though I don\u2019t mean pop in the vein of The Beatles or even Lady Gaga. I\u2019m talking about catchy, cheesy pop singles that might not have a lot of substance, but they sure stick in your head. It\u2019s like the Snuggie of music — you feel a little silly for buying it, but it\u2019s just so darn enjoyable! OneRepublic conjures up that sort of feeling for me, at least when it comes to their singles. <\/p>\n
Fronted by Ryan Tedder, who has penned hit singles for everyone from Leona Lewis (\u201cBleeding Love\u201d) to Beyonce (\u201cHalo\u201d) to recent chart-stomper Adele, it\u2019s hard to think that OneRepublic could go wrong. Tedder has a keen pop sensibility, crafting songs with soaring hooks that wear their hearts on their sleeves. And he and his bandmates have hit it out of the park on more than one occasion; just check out their Top 10 single \u201cApologize\u201d from their debut album, 2007\u2019s Dreaming Out Loud. <\/i>But as it turns out, a lot of the material here suffers from the same fate as their first disc did: it\u2019s mediocre. You can tell the group is trying, but song after song just sounds phoned in and over-the-top, decked out with strings and half-baked hooks that don\u2019t capture any of the heart that OneRepublic is capable of.<\/p>\n
Of course, that doesn\u2019t apply to the singles, which are sparkly and endearing and endlessly listenable. There\u2019s nothing with as big of a chorus as the Timbaland-assisted \u201cApologize,\u201d but I\u2019ve got a soft spot for \u201cAll The Right Moves,\u201d and though \u201cSecrets\u201d has some silly lyrics, it\u2019s sweet and buoyant: \u201cThis time \/ Don\u2019t need another perfect line \/ Don\u2019t care if critics ever jump in line \/ I\u2019m gonna give all my secrets away.\u201d Meanwhile, fourth single \u201cGood Life\u201d is an airy track perfect for summer, accented with swaths of synths and mellow drumbeats that mimic handclaps. \u201cMarchin\u2019 On\u201d is another song tailor-made for radio, but as it turns out, OneRepublic plus Timbaland is an even better combo \u2013 check out his take on the song on his Shock Value II <\/i>album, which tricks out their version by speeding up the beat.<\/p>\n
Four out of eleven songs being decent to great is a pretty disappointing ratio, though, and most of the rest of the material here definitely isn\u2019t radio-worthy. Opener \u201cMade For You\u201d features a creepy children\u2019s chorus and seems solely designed to lead into \u201cAll The Right Moves,\u201d the title track meanders for six minutes, and \u201cLullaby\u201d is a sleepy closer. The only other track of note is \u201cEverybody Loves Me,\u201d reminiscent of Maroon 5 in its snappy \u2018tude and pumped up energy \u2013 I could definitely see this playing over and over in your head, one of those inescapable songs that forces you to love it. <\/p>\n
Having not really expected genius out of this album, it\u2019s not too much of a disappointment. You get a handful of enjoyable songs, another heaping handful of junk, and the sense that this is what you\u2019re probably going to get on future releases from OneRepublic. Listening to Waking Up<\/i> makes you come away with sort of a \u201cblah\u201d feeling, but the remedy to that is just playing \u201cAll The Right Moves\u201d and forgetting your troubles. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":30679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8122],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-42352","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-onerepublic","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42352"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}