OneRepublic - Native

The third studio album from the pop-rock Colorado natives will have you singing along to the radio - but singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder's habit of wearing his influences too clearly rears its head again.

What we thought:

The band made radio history for receiving the largest amount of airplay in history with their single "Apologize" and I'm just as taken with their new album. 

Tedder's lyrics boast a sincerity that is lacking in so much of today's pop music. The song's elaborate instrumental layers set Tedder and his band apart, making their music so much more than just another collection of mainstream pop songs. 

Songs like "Counting Stars" and "If I Lose Myself" capture what make One Republic so successful; big sounds and strong lyrics. I fell in love with "Something I Need" heartfelt and intelligent lyrics and were openly moved by "Preacher"; a song about Tedder’s grandfather that boasts a classical string section and a gospel choir. 

Best track:

I loved "Feel Again", not only for its upbeat chorus that had everyone in the office tapping along, but for the band's awesome initiative to raise awareness and funds for Save the Children. The song even uses actual heartbeats from children in Malawi and Guatemala!  

Worst Track:

I really battled to choose a least favourite track! There is such a variety; from rock to opera and everything in-between! But, if we had to chose would say "Burning Bridges" didn't have the same impact as the rest of the tracks.

Sounds like:

Tedder has faced his fair share of criticism for being unoriginal in the past. Does anyone remember the Halo/Already Gone controversy?

This album seems to have done little to fix the song-writers reputation with many of the tracks being compared to other songs and song-writers! Critics have focused especially on Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days are over" and "Feel Again," drawing parallels between both songs urgent hand clapping and swelling vocal hooks. 

Scott Shetler of Pop Crush went so far as to say that the band might as well add a 'Featuring Florence + the Machine' credit.

Some other comparisons that have been made include:

•    The intro to "Can't Stop" and the intro to Rhianna's  "Diamonds"
•    "Counting Star's" folk-style to the folk sounds of Mumford and Sons

OneRepublic Goes ‘Native’

OneRepublic Goes ‘Native’

OneRepublic sketches out its summer plans as the rock band from Colorado announces a July-August tour that begins in Oklahoma before heading eastward for shows along the Atlantic coast. With tickets going up on Friday, stops include Boston, Baltimore, New York, Atlanta and Orlando.

Released March 26 on Mosley Music Group/Interscope Records, One Republic’s third album has racked up plenty of praise.  The New York Times said Native “serves up layer upon layer of glossy keyboards, reverberant guitars and choir like backing vocals.”  Not to be outdone in showing OneRepublic some love, Entertainment Weekly liked the album’s “soaring, evangelical choruses of prescription strength goose-bump inducers like ‘Feel Again’ and ‘If I Lose Myself.’” 

Here’s the tour:

July 19 – Tulsa, Okla., Downtown Tulsa
July 22 – Saint Paul, Minn., Myth
July 23 – Highland Park, Ill., Ravinia Festival At Ravinia Park
July 25 – Columbus, Ohio, Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
July 26 – Hershey, Pa., The Star Pavilion At Hersheypark Stadium
July 27 – Rochester, Mich., Meadow Brook Music Festival
July 28 – Canandaigua, N.Y., Constellation Brands - Marvin Sands PAC (CMAC)
July 30 – Newport, R.I., Newport Yachting Center
Aug. 1 – Boston, Mass., Bank Of America Pavilion
Aug. 2 – Mashantucket, Conn., Foxwoods Resort Casino & MGM Grand At Foxwoods
Aug. 3 – Bethlehem, Pa., PNC Plaza At Steelstacks (Bethlehem Musikfest)
Aug. 5 – Vienna, Va., Filene Center At Wolf Trap
Aug. 6 – Hyannis, Mass., Cape Cod Melody Tent
Aug. 8 – Big Flats, N.Y., The Summer Stage At Tag's
Aug. 9 – Baltimore, Md., Pier Six Pavilion
Aug. 10 – New York, N.Y., Hudson River Park - Pier 26
Aug. 12 – Orlando, Fla., Hard Rock Cafe / Hard Rock Live
Aug. 13 – Hollywood, Fla., Hard Rock Live
Aug. 15 – Atlanta, Ga., Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Aug. 16 – Charlotte, N.C., Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre
Aug. 18 – Whites Creek, Tenn., The Woods At Fontanel

REVIEW: OneRepublic – Native

REVIEW: OneRepublic – Native

I’m not sure if this is due to the calibre of music I reviewed earlier in the week, but I am thoroughly unmoved by this album. I want to like it – at least, I think I do. It’s by OneRepublic who are naught if not predictable, and in theory should be providing a solid piece of generically accessible pop/rock to score the background of technology ads for the next year or so. It is the definition of mainstream pop. It’s big in scale, bland on sound, enhanced to within an inch of its life and neither obtrusive nor gripping. It bears all the hallmarks of acceptable background listening and yet, I just don’t like it. There’s a fundamental disconnect buried somewhere within these flimsy, doe-eyed songs and it turns Native from a potentially likeable listen into something disinteresting at best and irritatingly vacuous at worst. It’s gone over and above itself to sound pretty, and OneRepublic have indeed shown that they are capable of making lush music, but this isn’t it. This is a wayward and ill-concealed attempt at mass appeal that smacks of trying too hard. Its dullness is actually incredibly irritating.
It’s obvious that the band gave their all on this album. There is a lot of heart and soul in it. The problem is that they were too eager to please. They’ve over-embellished the music to within an inch of its life and buried it under so many needless synths and add-ons that it just sounds nervous and unconvincing. Soft thoughtful verses give way to hugely overdone choruses, completely removing any hint of atmosphere or engagement. Even worse, the added effects do nothing to add rhythm or catchiness. Mostly, they drown out what’s already there. Tracks become creaky, flimsy pieces of flotsam that can’t pull their scattered parts into a cohesive whole. This might have worked if the songs were stronger to begin with, but such brazen effects work just doesn’t fit with OneRepublic’s vacant, pensive style. “Counting Stars” and “If I Lose Myself Again” exhibit this perfectly. They are good, likeable songs but they’re put through such a myriad of tempo changes and swelling instrumentation that they come completely undone. The synths sound like something you’d get pre-recorded on a keyboard. “Feel Again” aims to be celebratory and uplifting and does convey some palpable longing in its lyrics. However, so much effort is put into making the song sound like it’s important that the band forgets to actually make it important. It grasps blindly at a sense of purpose and occasion but can’t quite find it. A good deal of Native has this problem – it’s trying to convince you it’s momentous, but there’s a gaping void between album and listener. You can sense something’s there but you never quite feel it. “Au Revoir” spends too much time floating off into imagined realms, scored by irritatingly cloying backing effects, to actually put some solid grounding under itself. “Something I Need” is cheesy, emotionally barren, and clichéd.
It says a multitude that the parts of this that do engage are more organic. “What You Wanted” has its head firmly aloft in the clouds, but there’s some good grounded drumming to spur it forward. It feels more focused and less insipid. “I Lived” is simple and bracing, its earthy beginnings giving way to more rhythmic guitar notes. The chorus is ruinous – instrumentation and percussion are out of sync and it drowns the promising opening in generic indie gloss – but that aside, it’s far better than the rest. “Light It Up” isn’t particularly good but it is made of sturdier stuff, with a strength and rigour that gives it some substance. It’s not even that these songs are particularly brilliant, but their simplicity is endearing. They have actual character instead of manufactured zeal.
It’s hard to believe that something that should be so harmless should be so annoying, but Native is an annoyingly poor album. It takes generically appealing songs and transforms them into overworked and undernourished sanctimony. Blandly produced pop is perfectly fine if you don’t try to pretend that it’s something it’s not, but OneRepublic are too invested in making this sound perky and forget to infuse it with character. Native would have done far better without the erratic structuring and dodgy effects.

OneRepublic To Exclusive Hotel Shows

Live Nation, Starwood Bring OneRepublic, Gavin DeGraw, Imagine Dragons To Exclusive Hotel Shows

Bands and hotels used to be synonymous with trashed rooms and debaucherous partying, the kinds of behavior that could get an artist banned from certain establishments. Yet a partnership between Live Nation and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has not only been established by creating artist experiences, but turning its signature hotels like the W, Westin and St. Regis into venues themselves.

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The partnership is launching a series of nine acoustic performances by top artists at different Starwood-owned hotels around the world starting May 18 with Sara Bareilles at Element Dallas Fort Worth Airport North.
“On Tour With SPG: Hear the Music, See the World” is the latest program of Live Nation and Starwood’s multiyear partnership, built around Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), a guest-rewards program and exclusive to rewards members.
The expanded Live Nation/Starwood pact is the latest example of how brands are deepening their ties to music by emphasizing their membership rewards programs. Financial service companies like American Express, Citi and MasterCard have been in the business of card-member ticket presales for years, and in recent months have narrowed their focus on creating more intimate, members-only concerts at private venues. Pepsi also recently rebranded its rewards program to Pepsi Experience Points to create unique fan experiences, including a cover-song contest with music app SongBooth that will result in a major-label singles deal later this year.
The SPG event continues June 3 with OneRepublic at the Westin Boston Waterfront. Other confirmed artists include Russian Red, July 20 at Four Points by Sheraton in Barcelona; Gavin DeGraw, July 25 at Sheraton New York Times Square; Imagine Dragons, Aug. 7 at the new Aloft in Cupertino, Calif.; Paloma Faith, Sept. 27 at Hotel Bristol Vienna; and Lila Downs, Oct. 25 at Le Meridien Mexico City. Additional events are planned for W Singapore and the St. Regis Bangkok later this year.
The Live Nation relationship has already hosted exclusive artist events that in 2012 alone featured Jamie Cullum, Ben Folds Five, Natasha Bedingfield, Jason Mraz, Daughtry and Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza as well as pre-parties for concerts with Lady Gaga and Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks. And because its attendance is limited exclusively to SPG rewards members, who redeem points a la frequent flier miles in order to attend the intimate concerts, it’s helped drive major business for Starwood hotels. “It helps curb attrition, the number of nights guests stay,” Starwood VP of SPG marketing Gretchen Kloke says.
The SPG events are more than just a regular booking, however. This year’s “Hear the Music, See the World” program has a particular focus of matching artists with the core features of Starwood’s nine hotel brands. So Bareilles was paired with Element Dallas Fort Worth, for example, because of Element’s focus on green and sustainability initiatives, causes important to Bareilles, who has incorporated green elements into her tours and a 2010 partnership with Whole Foods. OneRepublic, meanwhile, was paired with the Westin for the chain’s emphasis on health and fitness, both lifestyle activities important to frontman Ryan Tedder. And Imagine Dragons was recruited for the new Aloft in Cupertino for the brand’s focus on tech-forward innovation, which may end up including a closed-circuit viewing party on Apple products. (The hotel is located near Apple headquarters.) “We’ve been lucky enough to play in cities around the world this last year,” Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds says, “but it’s always nice to be back in California.”