Waking Up (OneRepublic album)

''Waking Up'' is the second studio album by American pop rock band OneRepublic, released through Mosley Music Group and Interscope Records on November 17, 2009. Despite being released to mixed reviews, the album peaked at number 21 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Lead singer Ryan Tedder has stated in an interview that Jerrod Bettis, OneRepublic's former drummer, had come up with the idea for the album cover while in Seattle.

Background

After the success of OneRepublic's debut album, '' Dreaming Out Loud'', they began work on a second album in 2008. Lead singer Ryan Tedder announced on July 21, 2009, that the band's second album would be completed five weeks from that date which was August 25, 2009. On September 6, 2009, the band posted a low-quality version of the first single from their second album, " All the Right Moves", while a higher quality version could be found on their MySpace page. On September 8, 2009, the band posted samples of 4 of their songs from the new album onto their MySpace page. Eleven songs were announced to make up the track list, which was officially confirmed by Amazon's German site on November 3, 2009.

Promotion and release

''Waking Up'' was released through Interscope Records on November 17, 2009, in North America, November 20, in Australia, while being released on November 13 in Germany and not until January 18, 2010, in the United Kingdom. A deluxe version of the album was released exclusively in North America at the same time as the standard version. The album was completed on August 25, 2009. The lead single from the album, " All the Right Moves", was released on September 29, 2009, for airplay and officially released on October 6, 2009. The lead single in Germany, "Secrets" was released on October 30, 2009, and it was released as a single in the US on June 1, 2010.

The first single from ''Waking Up'', "All the Right Moves", was released for radio airplay on September 29, 2009, and then received an official release digitally on October 6, 2009. The music video for the single was released on October 8, 2009. It has peaked at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. OneRepublic then digitally released "Everybody Loves Me" on October 20, 2009, after having already posted a snippet of the song along with three others on their MySpace page. "Good Life" was then released digitally on November 10, peaking at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

"Secrets" was released as the lead single from the album in Germany for airplay on September 21, 2009 and was released digitally on October 30, 2009, in Germany. It was also released on November 3, 2009 as the album's second digital single in the US. "Secrets" was released as a single in Germany due to the fact that it is being used as the title song in the film ''Zweiohrküken'', the sequel to ''Keinohrhasen'', which used the band's song " Apologize" as the title song. The song was also featured in the 2010 film ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice''.

The song "Marchin On" was selected to support the German TV channel ZDF and serves as the channel's official FIFA 2010 World Cup song. It was released for digital download in Germany on June 18, 2010.

The song "Good Life" is featured on the advertisements for the films ''Eat Pray Love'' and '' One Day'', as well as advertisements for Disneyland and Honda.

The song “Everybody Loves Me” was featured on the soundtrack for the video game NBA 2K16.

Critical reception

The album received lukewarm reviews upon release from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album 2.5/5 stars and criticized it for having "no joy, only dogged diligence, an alienating insistence that texture means more than warmth or melody." Matthew Cole of ''Slant Magazine'' gave the album 1.5/5 stars and stated that "OneRepublic's music just isn't that interesting".

Conversely, August Brown of ''The Los Angeles Times'' gave the album 3/4 stars and acknowledged that "the band needs to stop mistaking the cello as an inherently "meaningful" instrument" but ultimately concluded that "OneRepublic is using imbaland'sold tricks even better than he is lately. Sputnikmusic also gave the album a 3/5 "Good" rating and summarized that "further ambition results in marginal progression, but Coldplay need not fear just yet." BBC's Mike Diver criticized the lyrics for being (among other things) "saccharine and suffocating of faux-emoting", but admitted that "despite its obvious shortcomings, it’s hard to criticize he albumtoo heavily", ultimately concluding that it's "oddly admirable".

The album currently holds a 61 score on Metacritic based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Ryan Tedder, except for where noted.

Notes
* signifies an additional producer
* signifies a co-producer
* "Secrets" incorporates " Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Personnel

OneRepublic

* Ryan Tedder – lead vocals, piano, rhodes, rhythm guitar, programming
* Zach Filkins – lead guitar, viola, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
* Brent Kutzle – bass guitar, cello, acoustic guitar, keyboard, backing vocals
* Drew Brown – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel
* Eddie Fisher – drums, cajón, percussion

Additional musicians

* The London Studio Orchestra – strings on tracks 7, 8, 9

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

2009 albums
Interscope Records albums
Interscope Geffen A&M Records albums
OneRepublic albums
Albums produced by Ryan Tedder
Albums produced by Mikal Blue