Music Notes

The Perfects, OneRepublic (Demo)

For Jeff and his "Barrel of Monkeys"  challenge, I've chosen OneRepublic because I'm a huge fan and know (and love!) every song they ever made.

Lead singer Ryan Tedder is the glue holding the band together: with an optimistic, enthusiastic personality and more projects on his plate in a week than a normal person could juggle in a lifetime, he applies himself wholeheartedly to everything he does, and it shows.

I have my ten songs picked out, and I've tried to go for deep cuts or tracks not associated with album cycles, to keep it interesting. I'm sure we're all familiar with OneRepublic on a surface level (2013's Counting Stars has over 3 billion views on YouTube) but there's plenty more to explore than what you might hear on the radio or at a gas station.

My first choice is a demo, an unreleased version of the 2009 single All The Right Moves from 1R's sophomore album Waking Up.

All The Right Moves has been a favorite 1R track of mine for as long as I've known them as a band, since 2017. With elaborate organs, the famous 1R cello, and a post-bridge that sounds like it's run through a gramophone, it carries a distinctly timeless, quirky and old-fashioned vibe.

It was one of the first songs I listened to on my first pair of dollar store earbuds. The music video is fascinating, showing a story of a luxurious Victorian masquerade ball with dancing ladies and gents and a little boy picking their pockets after they turn up their noses at him.

The lyrics captured my fancy; I saw Ryan's words as ominous, moody and mysterious, and I delighted in imagining vague, fleeting storylines around them. I always felt as though the lines "you'll be the Queen of Hearts, and we're the King of Spades, and we'll fight for you like we were your soldiers" were especially cryptic, jarring, even perhaps out of place. Gradually I pierced the metaphor, as I realized a major yet subtle theme of Waking Up was Ryan's concern about his band's sudden and potentially tenuous rise to fame and success.

I discovered the demo version of All The Right Moves a mere handful of days ago, while browsing YouTube videos. I scrolled through a playlist of Ryan Tedder's demos from his golden years in the mid aughts; these are nearly all his personal "covers" of songs he wrote for other artists.

This particular song, of course, is not one which went to anyone else, being instead made with his band OneRepublic.

The main reason why this demo is special for me is in the lyrics. Rather than singing metaphorically about kings, queens and soldiers, Ryan shares his heart directly and honestly: "I don't know what it is they found, but we're going down to where everyone's getting it right… I don't have it figured like they do. You see I got my worries and I got my vice; there's nothing in my world that they're used to." These lines serve to explain, as well as add depth and realism, to the chorus.

Perhaps the most vulnerable and touching moment is the bridge, where he turns to address his significant other: "I push and pull away, but I cannot seem to break someone that'll love like you…" These words didn't make it to the final version, replaced by words focusing on the dilemma of artistic uniqueness versus formulaic success.

These new unreleased lyrics make perfect sense to me. It's exactly what I thought All The Right Moves was supposed to say.

The demo is technically untitled, being available solely on YouTube and apparently having had a title appointed by the channel owner. Being a Genius contributor, I took it upon myself to add this track   to Ryan's discography there.

I'll add the music video below the demo for comparison.

Word count: 644.