OneRepublic: Waking Up
OneRepublic: Waking Up
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By inthenews. |  |
Friday, 15, Jan 2010 11:55
Polydor, out now.
What's it all about?
This is the new album from the Grammy-nominated Apologize band including frontman/songwriter Ryan Tedder who has written songs for the likes of Beyonce and Leona Lewis.
As an example...
What the others say
"Ultimately, OneRepublic takes what all of those bands already do and pushes it to an even lower common denominator of slick, disposable melodrama. I don't know if anyone's ever complained about Coldplay being too edgy, but if so, Waking Up could be their dream come true." - Matthew Cole, Slant
"By repeating the successful formula of their first album, OneRepublic aren't going to turn the critics who savaged their debut. But with their eyes exclusively on the larger prizes offered by mainstream acceptance, one assumes they couldn't care less." - Mike Diver, BBC
So is it any good?
When OneRepublic and hip-hop mega-producer Timbaland collaborated, the result was a song which was as infectious as it was ubiquitous, but in the words of the song itself, "it's too late to apologise". It was a massive hit and still gets a lot of airplay. The question was, what next? I guess next was Stop and Stare, seemingly a return to the rock-pop OneRepublic are generally known for producing. So with two singles spanning two genres, what brand of music is this rather enigmatic outfit actually intent on creating? Well, in short, I'm not entirely certain. However, the point is, music's either good or bad, so who cares what label you attribute to it? Question is, is the music on Waking Up good or bad?
Answer is: not bad and it's quite interesting. The track Secrets, an attitudinally quasi-teenage anti-critics rant - "Tell me what you want to hear. don't care if critics never jump in line" works paradoxically well alongside its classical strings backing. Good Life wakes up to London and is a testament to painting the town red and not being ashamed to embrace the euphoria this can bring - "When you're happy like a fool.. " (run with it!) - nothing wrong with having a bit of fun now and again after all! Lullaby does exactly what it says on the tin and is a pleasantly sedate denouement.
It is not really my cup of kenco but if commercial pop-rock is, then there is some good song-writing and some nice arrangements to satiate your senses. If it ain't, don't touch it with anything - even if it's really, really long!
7/10
Alex Sinclair