Francesco CarrozziniOneRepublic will hit the road in 2017 in support of their new album, Oh My My, but right now, they’re focused on their current single, “Kids.” Lead singer Ryan Tedder tells ABC Radio it was inspired by his experiences as a young man, and how he rejects the notion that those were his “glory days.”
“The song’s nostalgic, both the way it sounds and what the lyrics are — if you can understand them, ‘cause I’m singing ‘em pretty fast,” Ryan laughs. “But really, the idea is looking back on youth, early 20s, late teens, and that time period where you feel like ‘Oh my God, anything’s possible’…this sense of freedom and ‘This is incredible’…if you have the wherewithal to actually appreciate your youth when you’re in it.”
But as exciting as that time was for him, Ryan says he was struck by the realization that things might never be as good again.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, what if this is as good as it gets?,” Ryan says he remembers thinking. “‘What if we’re peaking?’ Because there are people who genuinely look back the rest of their lives talking about the good old days.”
“This song is literally like ‘Glory Days,'” he adds, referring to the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. “And so for me, it’s about being that age and saying, ‘Well, let’s not let this be as good as it gets.'”
That’s why the key lyrics in the song are, “I refuse to look back thinking days were better/Just because they’re younger days.”
While we wait for OneRepublic to announce tour dates, Ryan says he and the band will be in Europe until right before Christmas, and then he and his family are heading to Vail, Colorado for the holiday break.
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