Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Why OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder Is Obsessed with New Zealand

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

In this episode, we sit down with Ryan Tedder—Grammy-winning songwriter, producer, and frontman of OneRepublic—to chat music, inspiration, and why he fell so deeply in love with New Zealand that he got a tattoo to prove it. Ryan opens up about the songs he’s given away—some of the biggest hits in pop music—and whether he ever regrets letting them go. He also shares behind-the-scenes stories from working with megastars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Florence + The Machine, and the Jonas Brothers. Plus: what really happens at a songwriting camp?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Jono, Ben and Megan podcast, thanks to Dilma. Goodness really does taste great. Dilma, making the world a better tea. Hey guys. Oh, hey, how's things? Can't complain. We're very excited you're coming back to New Zealand again. Yeah, super excited.

It's one of my top three favorite countries of all time. It's where I'm going to go when, if I sense the world is approaching apocalypse of any kind. I think we're reaching it soon, right? I got some people, I got some friends here with some crazy jets and I've told them you are putting me and my family on that damn plane. We're going to Queenstown. Oh, nice.

I was going to ask you, you've been here before, so what do you remember about New Zealand? I've been there many times. New Zealand was number one on my list since I was probably 10 in terms of places that I wanted to visit. I did a book report on it and geography. I was fascinated by it because it's so far from where I lived. And it's so endless green and mountains and beauty.

Basically, it's like if Hawaii and California had a one-night stand. Maybe a throuple with an Irishman. That's kind of like what it looks like yeah and then eloped in the middle of nowhere exactly exactly and somebody invited switzerland for like a little you know and so i remember a lot about it i've been down to the south island rented a car drove to some of the most beautiful countryside ever went to martinborough, got drunk, forgot I was in Martinborough. And then have been a decent amount over the North Island. Obviously spent time in Auckland, Wellington.

Got a little memory sick, if you can see right there. Oh, my God. I was just looking at your tattoos on the Zoom and admiring them. And then I'm going, well, what if it ever gets something in New Zealand? You've already done it. Oh, my God, you've got a silver food yeah i've got a silver listen you really are a big backer of the country wow you're more patriotic about new zealand than we are i'm actually funny enough talking with your prime minister to have me rewrite your national anthem oh well that'd be nice because we can pick up the pace a little bit i mean you know so maybe you could do that.

We're going to pick it up. We're going to pick it up. I hope you guys like Soulja Boy and Sabrina Carpenter. Actually, speaking of writing stuff, and you probably get sick of being asked this all the time, but you do, you write some amazing hits, not just for yourself, but for many other artists. I mean, how does that work, you know,

when you write for someone else and then you go, do you ever go, well, maybe I'll keep this one just for Ryan. I keep more songs now for one Republic. For instance, I ain't worried. I initially wrote not thinking it was one Republic. I was writing it for a top gun trying to, you know, appease Tom Cruise. And I, in my mind, I did it and I was just saying it. I was like, oh, I'm going to sing falsetto, kind of like

2010s indie style music that I listened to. Foster the People, Portugal the Man, etc. And then they were like, well, we love it. The song's in the movie. We're assuming you guys want to stay on it. And I didn't even know that was on the menu. So I was super happy about that counting stars initially i wrote at a beyonce writing camp i

started it um on for one of her albums i ended up doing this other song called xo which became her first single on that album and i kept counting stars ellie goulding burn there was a moment where the label wanted one republic to put it out and it just didn't feel like one republic adele love runs out we had we had a hit called love runs out back in like 2015 i wrote it for adele so i kept it i was like she gets rumor has it that's cool really interesting it's like if you write a song with an artist in the room, they have right of first refusal. Right. So if I have a song that I wrote with Miley,

I have Miley Cyrus' single dropping tomorrow called Easy Lover. In a million years, I never could have kept that for myself because I wrote it with her. Yeah. In the right. That's how it works. Yeah. So when you say a Beyonce writing camp, are you all like staying in sort of tents and dormitories or?

Well, not tents, but yeah. We were staying in the most expensive, largest house in the Hamptons. Oh, wow. Oh, yes, a tent. Kind of a tent. Yeah, like a 50,000 square foot tent with a zip line. Wow. It was pretty crazy. And it was quite the week.

Me, Sia, Florence the Machine, some other heavy hitter riders. Now, Ryan, a little birdie might have told us that you might be riding with someone very famous that we know. Taylor? Taylor Swift? Yeah, I have written with Taylor Swift. How does her process in the studio, how does it how does her process like in the studio how does that work Taylor's different she's she's a unique animal in terms of songwriting

truthfully doesn't really need anyone else in the room to accomplish the song if she didn't want she's collaborating with you it's because she decided she wants your flavor, your spin on her idea. She's the car. You're in the passenger seat. And you might pull over and Phil puts some gas in and changes the tire. She's the car. She's driving. So that's really what it is.

And so the songs I did with her, it was like, I was lucky to be invited to the party. I rest easy knowing that she's one of the few artists who kind of doesn't need any of this. She can just do it. God forbid she gets really good on computers, then all of us are cooked. All right, mate. Hey, lovely to see you and can't wait to see you when you're in New Zealand. Yeah, likewise. We cannot wait.