One Republic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, guitarist Zach Filkins, guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellist Brent Kutzle, drummer Eddie Fisher and keyboardist Brian Willett. The band first achieved commercial success on Myspace as an unsigned account.
Reuniting in Los Angeles in 2002, Tedder and Filkins re-formed their second band under the moniker Republic. Tedder, by then an established songwriter and record producer, had convinced Filkins who was living in Chicago to relocate. Nine months later, the band signed with Columbia Records. After a few lineup changes, the group finally settled with Tedder on vocals, Filkins on lead guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Fisher on drums, Brent Kutzle on bass and cello, and Drew Brown on guitar. The band’s name was changed to OneRepublic after the record company mentioned that the name Republic might result in legal action from other, similarly-named bands.
The band worked in the studio for two and a half years and recorded its first full-length album. Two months before the album was due to be released, (with “Sleep” as its debut single), OneRepublic was dropped by Columbia Records. The band was beginning to gain prominence on MySpace; Tedder said it was the number-one unsigned act on MySpace, and credits the website for keeping the band together. The band caught the attention of a number of labels, including Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group. The band soon signed onto the label, becoming the first rock band to do so.
On April 27, 2017, OneRepublic lead vocalist and principal songwriter Ryan Tedder published a Facebook post revealing the band’s future in releasing new material. In the post, he stated that he dealt with “crippling anxiety” and became ill due to constant touring, recording, and promoting the band’s releases. He clarified that OneRepublic would release “new music as often as humanly possible… monthly, weekly sometimes”, departing from the typical album cycle system. Singles they have released since the announcement were “No Vacancy”, “Truth to Power”, “Rich Love”, and “Born to Race”.
In September 2017, Tedder stated at a concert that the band had started work on their fifth studio album that was due to be released sometime in 2018. He estimated that there would be 7–8 songs on the album. Also, they featured on Kygo’s song “Stranger Things” for his second studio album Kids in Love, released in 2017. Also, this song received a remix from Norwegian DJ Alan Walker.
The band opened up for the Zac Brown Band on select dates of their Down the Rabbit Hole Live tour in summer 2018.
On May 16, 2018, “Start Again”, a single featuring Logic was released on YouTube and other various platforms. The single is part of the Season 2 soundtrack for the Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why.
On June 26, 2018, OneRepublic released the single “Connection”. On November 9, 2018, OneRepublic released a cover of the song “White Christmas” for a Jeep commercial.
On January 3, 2019, Ryan Tedder announced via their official Twitter that a new album was coming sometime in 2019. It was previously slated to be released in 2018. On January 31, 2019, OneRepublic and Galantis released their song “Bones”.
On May 17, 2019, OneRepublic released the single “Rescue Me”. On August 27, 2019, OneRepublic announced their new single “Wanted”, which was released on September 6, 2019. A promotional single, “Somebody to Love”, was released on September 11, the day of the season finale of Songland.
On September 15, 2019, Tedder announced that the new album is called Human, and would be released in November 2019. He also added that “Rescue Me” and “Wanted” will be on the album. However, on November 19, 2019, Tedder said that the album is planned to be released in spring 2020.
On January 22, 2020, Tedder announced over Instagram that the new album would be wrapped by March. On March 10, 2020, the band announced their next single “Didn’t I”, which was released on March 13, 2020. Human is scheduled to be released on May 8, 2020. “Better Days” was released as the fourth single from Human on March 25, 2020.