Album Review: Oh My My by OneRepublic

On Ringo Starr's 1973 ditty "Oh My My," the Beatle challenged listeners with "Can you move? Can you slide? You can boogie if you try." On OneRepublic's fourth outing of the same name, there's plenty of boogie to inspire even the heaviest of hearts. The band hasn't broken stride following its 2013 hit album Native -- which went platinum in eight countries and spawned no less than six hit singles -- continuing an unstoppable flow of bright anthems designed to comfort and uplift. The Native world tour would set the stage for the creation of Oh My My, which was written and recorded all over the globe.

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This is their fourth album, but OneRepublic still sound like a testbed for frontman Ryan Tedder’s other job as a purveyor of top-drawer pop tunes to Beyoncé, Adele et al. Tedder has used his golden ear for hooks lavishly here: if OneRepublic’s 2014 hit Counting Stars was ear-wormy, these tracks are certified ear-centipedes. Problematically, though, he has produced the album to replicate a playlist, yielding a plethora of styles upon which OneRepublic don’t quite stamp their own identity.

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Review Summary: Oh my...Remember Dreaming Out Loud? Those were very promising times for OneRepublic, because they displayed a ton of potential for being both unapologetically pop yet also possessing actual talent (well - vocally, anyway). They even garnered the ever-so-coveted label of “heirs to Coldplay” (it seems every couple years a new artist relishes this title, which is hilarious because Coldplay sucks now) – and of course they subsequently squandered that by spinning their wheels while the real Coldplay went on to redeem themselves with Viva La Vida. But OneRepublic’s potential no longer matters in light of Oh My My – an album that sees the quintet collectively and abruptly run out of ideas.

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