U2 To Work On New Album Soon, Ryan Tedder Says Making It “Will Be Easier”

Ryan Tedder and U2

Ryan Tedder Credit: Burton Tedder / Wikimedia Commons | U2 : Credit Tim Neufeld for @U2

In an interview today with the Italian music news site Rockol, Ryan Tedder said U2 asked him to meet them in Los Angeles to start work on U2’s next album.

“I spoke to them just last week. We will work together on some new pieces when I am in Los Angeles,” Tedder told Rockol. “I think it’s their intention to make a record completely different from the last two. It will be easier. You know, it’s like a pendulum. When you make a very produced album, with so many instruments in it, the next project you want it more sparse and you wonder: what if the disc had the sound of four musicians playing in a room?”

Tedder, whose songwriting, production and performance credits on hits for U2, Beyoncé, Madonna, Adele and Taylor Swift have elevated him to an elite status, is also looking forward as a front man to releasing a new One Republic album next month and a new tour in the summer of 2020.

“Working with a band like U2,” comes with difficulties Tedder said in his interview with the Italian language site Rockoi. “Bono and The Edge are like conductors. They listen to the auditions and assemble the songs by taking the melody from a demo, the chords from another, the strings from a third audition. With them a song is never finished.” 

“U2 are the best group on the planet, but with them it is not uncommon to produce 70 versions of a single song,” Tedder said.

There is no indication at this time as to when Tedder will be in Los Angeles to work with U2. One Republic has not announced any performances for Los Angeles for the remainder of 2019.

U2’s The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 begins November 8 in Auckland, New Zealand. As a matter of speculation only, U2 might choose to conduct some tour rehearsals in Los Angeles in October and could work on new songs with Tedder as soon as next month.

Tedder’s previous credits with U2 are for production and performance on Songs of Innocence (2014) and Songs of Experience (2017). Though uncredited as a songwriter for U2, Tedder has said he and One Republic bandmate Brent Kutzle wrote part of U2’s song “Summer of Love.”

(c) Calhoun / @U2, 2019