Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Ryan Tedder From One Republic On Working With Beyonce!

Episode Date: February 19, 2023

We chat to Ryan Tedder the lead singer of One Republic about his upcoming NZ tour and working with Beyonce!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hits, the Jono and Ben podcast. Now Ryan Tedder, he's the lead singer of One Republic. Written so many hit songs, not only for One Republic, like I Ain't Worried. Great song for Top Gun soundtrack. Counting Stars as well, another Big Bangers. Well is Apologize. But he's written hits for so many other artists like Beyoncé, who to her? He's written Halo.

Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Adele. So many hit singles, and we were lucky enough to chat to him, and I thought I'd surprise him by bringing my daughter Sienna along to ask some hard-hitting questions to Ryan Tedder. Hey, nice to see you. I heard you said that New Zealand was like your favorite place in the whole world.

Has that changed? Is there another country like Australia topped us now? I love Australia, but no. New Zealand is, yeah, that's my favorite by far. You don't say that to all the countries? You can check the interviews. Well, I know that you've got kids, and one of your sons keeps you very honest,

basically listens to your songs and critiques them, right? Yeah, I mean, more or less. I don't know if he critiques it. It's more that he is good at articulating which ones he thinks will work, whether it's for, you know, video games or movies, because I do a lot of songs for movies and video games and TV shows and things. And so it's more he's commenting on which one feels like it would work for a certain, you know, specific thing. It's like a record company exec. That's awesome. Well, I actually, I thought, you know, cause my, my daughter here, Sienna, she, she keeps me in check. So I thought she could come along today.

I've got her to write some questions. I might throw some of those at you if you're okay with that. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Hi Ryan, you wrote Beyonce's song Halo in three hours, but did you charge Beyonce for a full day? I did not. I did not. I should have. In retrospect, I probably could have charged her and she wouldn't have noticed. I'd be at least a couple grand wealthier. Yeah, of course, with the story you wrote there, and then it took a long time for Beyonce to get

back to you and say she wanted the song. Yeah. I mean, imagine a world where the most famous artist on earth is busy and operates on their own schedule. You know what I mean, imagine a world where the most famous artists on earth is busy and operates on their own schedule. You know what I mean? That's a lot of times you just don't hear back. I'm used to it at this point. I have very thick skin, but a lot of times you just don't hear back. Sometimes it's ages. It could be weeks or it could be two months, you know, especially if you're dealing with artists. Very few of them are in a rush. Is there any songs that you've written? Cause you've written some big bangers that you've gone ah man i should have kept that song so far so far none so none so far oh that's awesome okay all right so you know what else you got for ryan okay another one about

beyonce i read you actually wrote counting stars at a beyonce riding camp does beyonce know that she actually paid for that one republic song uh No, she did not fund that song. It was more or less that I came up with the idea and then I quickly realized I knew what the sound of that album. I did XO, which was the first single on that album, and I knew what the sound of the album was and I knew that it wasn't counting stars. You know, it's like if somebody orders, if an artist asks you to make them pizza and you go and you make them, you know, a spaghetti, you know what I mean? It was one of those deals. Like spaghetti's fine. It's not what she wants. So I'll have the spaghetti. She can have the pizza. And that's kind of where I left it. Yeah. Well, of course, I Ain't Worried, great song. We can't wait to see that live in New

Zealand, the song for Top Gun. But that must have been quite nerve wracking because Tom Cruise had gone through like 30 songs before he came to you on a zoom call. And he was like, I need a hat. Was that, was that a nerve wracking experience? You know, it wasn't, it wasn't, I've been lucky enough to work with some, like, I would say very, very well-known, you know, people, famous people. And, and. Thank you very much. You're not so bad yourself. Exactly. And thing that intimidates,

I think that makes people the pressure cooker is Tom is intense and it's Tom Cruise. He's kind of like otherworldly. He's been a movie star as long as all of us have been alive. So I didn't know that there were 30 other songs until after we did the song. So I apply the same pressure to myself for Tom Cruise and Top Gun as I would for Clifford, the big red dog. I approached in the same way which is like I'm going to do whatever it takes to nail this song you know Tom I didn't want to get a text message from Tom saying this isn't what I had in mind you know that would be that's not what you want and we'll throw one more question at you Sienna you're doing better questions than me you

go okay you sang it's too late to apologize dad bought my mom a fry pan for her birthday okay here we go didn't go down well is it too late to apologize now now the backstory behind the fry pan ryan was one of one of many gifts she wanted this fry pan she talked about it but i realized now it wasn't a great gift i've apologized but is it too late to apologize uh i think more than the apology is magically showing up with the thing she actually wants when it's not her birthday. Yeah, that's where I went wrong. That's the trick.

That's the trick. Because every guy makes that mistake at least once where you get him a blender or a house. Yeah. One of those things. And it's just like there's nothing less sexy than getting that gift from your spouse. Oh, Ryan, we could chat all day. You're awesome to talk to. We can't wait to have you in New Zealand, Wellington, Auckland,

in just a couple of weeks' time. Hopefully we catch up when you're in New Zealand. I would love that. We can't wait to get there. And I'm super excited about you coming to New Zealand. I kind of wrapped it up. Hold on. Okay.

Okay, all right. Watch it, Dad. How late is your concert? Because my bedtime is usually 9 p.m., which he decided. Your bedtime might have to move by like an hour. Just push the good songs. Push the good songs at the start. Yeah, well, we do.

I also do like seven or eight hit records I wrote for other artists in the middle of the set. So I'll do like Lil Nas X, Ed Sheeran, Jonas Brothers. You get a lot. And all the One Republic, every hit we've ever done, plus most of the hits or a lot of the hits I've written for other people. Awesome. I can't wait.

You can stay up late for that one. Lovely to talk to you. I can't wait to have you in New Zealand, Ryan. Thank you.