Showing posts with label Ryan Tedder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Tedder. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Kelly Clarkson and Ryan Teddar at war; Beyonce silent

Already sung?
It’s too late to apologise … it’s toooo laaaaate
Kelly Clarkson is fighting mad. Oh yes. It all stems, you see, from the fact that she worked with hitmaker Ryan Tedder (also known as the frontman of OneRepublic) on her recent album and her discovery that one song - her new single - “Already Gone” sounds rather a lot like Beyoncé’s “Halo”, also written by Ryan.

“We wrote about six songs together, four or five of them made the album. It was all fine and dandy. I’d never heard of a song called ‘Halo’,” Kelly told Canada’s CBC. “Her album came out when my album was already being printed. No-one’s gonna be sittin’ at home, thinking ‘Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyoncé and Kelly the same track to write to.’ No, they’re just gonna be saying I ripped someone off. I called Ryan and said, ‘I don’t understand. Why would you do that?’”

Kelly was so furious about the similarity that she tried to prevent her record company releasing it as a single. As a compromise she will only perform it acoustically in promo spots.Now Ryan Teddar has come out firing, insisting that the world is hearing wrong because there is NO WAY that “Already Gone” sounds like “Halo”.

Hear that, ears?

“‘Already Gone’ is one of the best songs I’ve written or produced since ‘Bleeding Love’ and stands tall on it’s own merits apart from ‘Halo’,” big-notes Ryan. “They are two entirely different songs conceptually, melodically and lyrically and I would never try to dupe an artist such as Kelly Clarkson or Beyoncé into recording over the same musical track, the idea is both hurtful and absurd. I think when people hear ‘Already Gone’ they will hear what I hear — one of the greatest female vocalists on earth giving her most haunting and heart-breaking performance on a song she helped write. I challenge people to listen and form their own opinions.”

Look, it’s not unusual for songwriters to come up with songs that sound the same – Max Martin has done it for a decade – but Ryan could have been a bit more honest and released a statement more along the lines of “Oops! My bad.”

Otherwise people might point out the fact that the structure of the recently leaked “Strangers”, a song he wrote for Leona Lewis, is spookily similar to “Battlefield”, his recent offering for Jordin Sparks.

What do you think?




Scott Keenan
Thank you sleep-ins o'clock

Monday, May 18, 2009

Music Mayhem! Jordin Sparks set to take over the world*, uh-huh, it’s a-ha!

*with apologies to Pat Benetar

Jordin Sparks – “Battlefield”
What do you do when it turns out you recorded your biggest ever hit with an alleged woman basher*? You record a song that is likely to be a much, much bigger hit of course!
And so Jordin Sparks has delivered the epic “Battlefield”. Already it is my favourite song of the year and in five short days I have managed to hammer it, according to iTunes, 27 times.
The song was written by Ryan Tedder, who since he struck gold with his band One Republic’s “Apologize” has become quite the hit maker. First was Leona Lewis’ omnipresent “Bleeding Love” and then there was the could-have-been-good-but-was-recorded-by-Beyoncé “Halo” (apparently she was going for “understated” on this one. I appreciate that, but surely you can be understated and in key?).
Not-so-subtly borrowing its title from Pat Benetar’s awesome “Love Is A Battlefield”, with production inspired by Jim Steinman and Mutt Lange, the song is a slow build of power drums and not many lyrics culminating in an amazing chant of “Better go and getcha armour”!
It’s melodramatic pop at its best, complete with amazingly ridiculous metaphors and OTT backing vocals – eat your heart out Bonnie Tyler!
No, they don’t make songs like this any more, kids. Aside from, you know, right now.



* Who could have dreamed when “No Air” was released that Chris Brown would “allegedly” try to choke someone?

a-ha – “Foot Of The Mountain”
I love me some a-ha. And not in some retro “Ohmygod they’re playing ‘Take On Me’!” way (everybody knows “The Sun Always Shines On TV” is far superior, anyway), but in an, “Ohmygod they still make music that is so relevant to me in my hectic 2009-paced life” way. (Almost)
A-ha’s new single “Foot Of The Mountain”, their first material since 2005’s brilliant Analogue (which the warring members recorded in shifts so as to avoid one another), is more a-ha brilliance.



Proving that sometimes he is a very wise man indeed, Chris Martin has admitted that a-ha is to this day one of his biggest inspirations, and if you listen to Coldplay’s albums you can tell.
“I found myself in Amsterdam the other day and I put a-ha's first record on,” Chris tittered in 2005. “I just remembered how much I loved it. It's incredible songwriting. Everyone asks what inspired us, what we've been trying to steal from and what we listened to as we were growing up – the first band I ever loved was a-ha.”
But we shouldn’t hold this against the lovable Norweigan trio – they’re really quite awesome.

Oh look it's Chris and Mags doing "Hunting High And Low"!


Chris’s love of my Scandanavian pals has left me feeling all warm inside, so why don’t you go download Coldplay's new live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft for free from their website. Shyeah, it’s all legal and stuff!

Looking smugWhile we’re giving away albums (or linking to them, anyway) former Savage Gardener Darren Hayes and his collaborator Robert Conley (who has produced Axle Whitehead’s album and is half of Brian McFadden’s new duo Wall Of Soundz) have launched a side project called We Are Smug. Somewhat crazily they are giving away their album We Are Smug… for nix on their website! Think electro pop with kooky Hayes lyrics (and even a few Beach Boys-style harmonies). Think Darren's The Disassociatives. For free. Insanity!

NKOTB In Da HouseThe re-formed New Kids On The Block have announced they will be touring Australia in August, and to say I am piss my pants excited is a completely ridiculous understatement.
You better believe I will be Step By Steping and Hangin' Tough like a 12 year old. Damn I'm a big saddo.
I'm also quite a fan of their newest album The Block, even if some of their single choices have been deeply questionable - their song with New Edition "Full Service" is one of the best things ever recorded ever (or so says I).

Vale BudLast week we lost much-loved Australian acting icon Charles “Bud” Tingwell, star of films The Castle and Innocence, as well as classic TV shows like Neighbours and Homicide.
Of course one of his best roles was in The Late Show’s hilarious Charlie The Wonder Dog alongside the Pissweak Kids. Check it out and remember a true legend.

Scott Keenan
Charlie We Love You O'Clock