With the help of the popular rapper-producer Timbaland, in November 2007 a soft rock band from the state of Colorado named One Republic released their debut album Dreaming Out Loud. If this band did not have a big-named producer backing them up, One Republic would have failed miserably. This album is lacking originality and the simplicity formula was used for a guaranteed hit record.
One Republic consists of a typical lead singer that plays the piano and also the guitar (like we haven‘t seen that one before), a couple of other guitar players, a bass guitarist, and of course a guy who plays drums. There’s nothing wrong the band set up because all that should matter is the music, which is were the band fell to the deep end of mediocre. Anybody could sample each of the thirteen songs on One Republic’s album and not find a single one that stands out.
Stopping on the seventh song named Tyrant, you are greeted with a smooth, mellow harmony that is then joined by an emotionless voice that hardly raises above the volume of the piano until the chorus about halfway through the song. That’s when the lead singer decides to actually use his vocal cords which sounds like a high pitched moan and starts to repeat the phrase “It feels so real from the outside.” And as if the guitar player was acting as an annoying little brother, the cords are almost to the point of shrilling as they blend together with the singer’s voice. Together they sound as though they are having a whining contest, each trying to win attention from anybody who will pay attention.
Another song of One Republic is Apologize, which begins with yet another smooth melody, only this time a violin and cello are playing with people clapping. The singer uses his about-to-cry-voice, but then applies some emotion into the chorus. It would be a compliment if only you could understand what he was singing. You could clearly hear the stretched out phrase “It’s too late…” before the vocalist uses his high pitched tone to over emphasize the syllables of the next couple of words. Checking on the lyrics will reveal he says, “It’s too late to apologize.” Go figure. The name of the song is called Apologize.
If anybody does or could understand the lyrics, you will notice that they are semi-religious, which is just plain creepy if you place the lyrics randomly in a song about your love life. Observe from the song Mercy: “Angel of Mercy/ how did you move me?/ Why am I on my feet again?/ And I see you/ Whoa Whoa Whoa/ I feel you/ Whoa Whoa Whoa/ I‘m so lost in you.” Sadly, Dreaming Out Loud would put anybody to sleep after thirteen mildly intoxicating songs.
