OneRepublic – Need Your Love

Ah, shoot, we’re all fresh out of it, buddy…

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[4.11]Charli Jae Brister: Remember that band that was really big in 2004/5/6/7? You know, the one with that one song, maybe Timbaland was on it? Maybe they were featured on Grey’s Anatomy? They’re back! Isn’t that grand? Their new song is a mid-tempo ballad-style piece — I’m keeping the bit in, because I worked for several consecutive minutes on it. OneRepublic returns…not triumphantly, maybe just averagely? I’m not allergic to bands I had a lukewarm-to-positive reaction to when I was young, but OneRepublic never had a distinct identity in the first place, unlike The Fray’s earnest piano rocking, The Format’s chamber pop ambition, Show Patrol’s post-Coldplay bigness, the list goes on and on. Not to sound too marketing-brained, but what’s the value proposition from some shimmering choruses with booming drums? My iPhone has a locally downloaded playlist of them, and entering into the Top 50 is a task OneRepublic is ill-suited for.
[5]

Al Varela: Mediocre. Once upon a time, OneRepublic could get by off of solid hooks and an earnest ambition that I’ve always admired, even at their worst. This feels like going through the motions though. There’s a really cool guitar part that happens at the start of the second verse that never comes back. Maybe if they went more in that direction this wouldn’t be so skippable.
[5]

Julian Axelrod: Of the many songs titled “Need Your Love” released in the past ten years, OneRepublic’s single is not the most soulful, or the most uplifting, or the most formally daring. But it does sound the most like Imagine Dragons covering Sia’s “Elastic Heart,” and that has to count for something.
[5]

Alfred Soto: Ryan Tedder needs your love because it’s too late to apologize after he’s been counting stars.  Does he sing “I don’t need a drink just to feel his cock”? Does he really sing “Gonna love those lines”? He likes dudes and coke? Well, Tedder just got more interesting than his ersatz arena pop demands on second listen.
[5]

Will Adams: Has Ryan Tedder… always sounded like that? Why is he so froggy? Is it too much pitch correction? Who thought those yelpy up-an-octave vocals in the chorus was a good idea? I’ve got questions, since there’s not much to engage with in this bland anti-materialist love ballad.
[4]

Hannah Jocelyn: The real recession indicator is OneRepublic releasing something genuinely good, which hasn’t happened since the last recession. Wait a minute, this is just “Elastic Heart”!
[6]

Nortey Dowuona:  JAMES ESSIEN GET OUT OF THERE! RUN!!!
[0]

Ian Mathers: Sometimes when I catch myself actually liking a corny Coldplay song or something, I do wonder if I am, as they used to say, losing my edge. So thank you OneRepublic for once again reminding me that I am perfectly capable of recognizing anodyne, prefab pablum when I hear it.
[3]

Claire Davidson: No more OneRepublic. Society has progressed past the need for OneRepublic.
[4]