It’s been a few years since the last time OneRepublic released a new studio album, and given how busy Ryan Tedder, the band’s frontman and songwriter, has been keeping himself, it’s no wonder that some fans might be skeptical that Tedder could ever free up his schedule enough to put together another full LP’s worth of songs.
On Sunday, however, Tedder sent the pulses of OneRepublic fans skyrocketing with a single nonspecific but highly optimistic tweet.
"You there! Yes, I'm talking to you, new song! Would you like to be our new single?" Ryan Tedder of ‘OneRepublic’ performing at Eventim Apollo, London on April 25, 2022
“Working on New @OneRepublic,” tweeted Tedder, adding that he has “been quietly gathering loads of songs for 2024.” As if that wasn’t enough, he also teased the matter a bit further, adding that he “think(s) we have the next single picked.”
To conclude the tweet, Tedder added a knowing winking-face emoji, followed by praying hands, raising hands, and a heart, seemingly implying that he was imparting semi-secret information, hoping that it would prove to be true, asking for a virtual high-five from all those reading the tweet, and then sending the message out with love, knowing that it would almost certainly be treated by the band’s 3 million followers as the absolute truth for what they are destined to receive in 2024.
For the time being, however, OneRepublic fans can at least enjoy a new single from the band: their new holiday song, "Dear Santa," was released on October 20 and has already racked up more than 7 million spins on Spotify. As it happens, the video for the song was only added to YouTube a few days ago, so if you aren't obsessive enough of a fan to have already hunted it down, now's your chance to give it a look.
In addition, OneRepublic has released a few other songs during the course of 2023 which haven’t yet found their way onto one of their own albums yet. In May, they dropped “Runaway,” which has pulled in an astonishing 86 million plays on Spotify, along with an acoustic version of the song which has earned another 2.5 million plays in its own right. Then there’s the 2023 version of “Counting Stars,” released in September, which has scored more than 4 million spins. And lest we forget, there’s also “Mirage,” also released in September in conjunction with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which has been played more than 16 million times.
Long story short, it's an exciting thought that OneRepublic might have a new album coming in 2024, but it's not as if they've been gone nearly as long as you might think.
