We are in the 7th round of the 2021 Song Draft and I’m throwing a curveball at you this round. If you’ve been following my choices up until now, they are all what many would consider to be “oldies.” Almost all of them have a local (Michigan/Detroit) link to them. For this round, I have chosen a song from recent years that I thought should have been a bigger hit than it was – Love Runs Out by OneRepublic.
If I am being honest with you, I rarely listen to new music. As a matter of fact, I hate most of it. However, while working at the Adult Contemporary station in town, I got to hear many of the current hits at the time. It is interesting to note that even when I was DJing high school dances or proms, much of the music that was being requested was heavy rap or songs that were inappropriate for school dances! I always had the “Mainstream Radio” hits available (clean versions), but the kids always wanted to hear that other stuff.
OneRepublic was formed in Colorado and is one of those cool success stories. The group consists of Ryan Tedder, Zach Filkins, Drew Brown, Brent Kutzel, Eddie Fisher, and Brian Willett. Ryan and Zach went to high school together in Colorado Springs in 1996. They went to separate colleges and eventually reconnected in 2002 and formed the band with some friends.
Back in the day they had a MySpace (remember that?!) page that featured their music. This led to them to play many shows in the Los Angeles area. Eventually, after many labels approaching them, they landed a record deal. They were dropped by their label just a couple months before their first single “Apologize” was released. In 2007, Timbaland remixed it and released the single, which became a number one song in 16 countries!
In 2013, the group released their 3rd album, Native. Love Runs Out was not even on the album until it was reissued in 2014. Ryan Tedder in an interview said, “We have a new single that’s not even on the album that’s about to drop. I can’t quote the date.” He says, “I wanted [“Love Runs Out”] to be the first single, a few of us in the band did, but I could not finish the chorus. And you can’t have a song without a chorus.” Approximately a year later, they had a chorus. The group appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and explained how it all came together:
The first time I heard the song, the driving bass drum caught my attention. Then you have this piano playing the same note over and over. It kept building and I was literally listening to see what would happen next. Ryan Tedder’s vocal is fantastic in this song. It’s almost like two people are singing it. You hear the “softer” Ryan on the verses and then he takes it up a notch on the chorus! His voice cuts through this song and I love it!
The song peaked at #15 on the Hot 100 chart, but I really felt like this was a number 1 song. It should have been.
Love Runs Out
I’ll be your light, your match, your burning sun
I’ll be the bright in black that’s makin’ you run
And we’ll feel alright, and we’ll feel alright
‘Cause we’ll work it out, yeah, we’ll work it out
I’ll be doin’ this, if you have a doubt
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
I’ll be your ghost, your game, your stadium
I’ll be your fifty-thousand clapping like one
And I feel alright, and I feel alright
‘Cause I worked it out, yeah, I worked it out
I’ll be doin’ this, if you have a doubt
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
Chorus:
I got my mind made up, man, I can’t let go
I’m killing every second ’til it sees my soul
Oh, I’ll be running, oh, I’ll be running
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
And we’ll start a fire, and we’ll shut it down
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
There’s a maniac out in front of me
Got an angel on my shoulder, and Mestopheles
But mama raised me good, mama raised me right
Mama said, “Do what you want, say prayers at night”
And I’m saying them ’cause I’m so devout
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out, yeah
Chorus:
I got my mind made up, man, I can’t let go
I’m killing every second ’til it sees my soul
Oh, I’ll be running, oh, I’ll be running
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
And we’ll start a fire, and we’ll shut it down
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
Bridge:
Oh, we all want the same thing
Oh, we all run for something
Run for God, for fate, for love, for hate
For gold and rust, for diamonds and dust
I’ll be your light, your match, your burning sun
I’ll be the bright in black that’s makin’ you run
Chorus:
I got my mind made up, man, I can’t let go
I’m killing every second ’til it sees my soul
Oh, I’ll be running, oh, I’ll be running
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
And we’ll start a fire, and we’ll shut it down
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
I’ll be your light, your match, your burning sun
I’ll be the bright in black that’s makin’ you run
And we’ll feel alright, and we’ll feel alright
‘Cause we’ll work it out, yes, we’ll work it out
And we’ll start a fire, and we’ll shut it down
‘Til the love runs out, ’til the love runs out
‘Til the love runs out
slicethelife 
There is some cool stuff out there now…I’ve learned that going to Jeff’s and Graham’s site.
The challenge today is weeding through all the garbage to find the diamonds in the rough!
Oh, that is GOOD! They kind of remind of Imagine Dragons, which I have developed a love for.
That is one helluva good song! Like you I don’t have a lot of faith in new music, but this one had my scalp tingling, which is my “spirit test” on art. The editing on the video is first class also. I liked the “how they wrote it” video too, as the work they put into it was worth the effort in the finished product. Thank you for introducing this oldtimer to something fresh and tasty.
I had my headphones on in the on air studio when this song started. I was hooked immediately.
As most of the song drifters have been doing, it’s always great to kind of tell the backstory of the song. The normal sites that I go to to find facts about songs didn’t really have much about this one. That’s when I stumbled on the video of how they made it. I figured it was easier to post the video then trying to tell it myself.
I thought the video was well done as well! It’s got some neat visuals to it.
I certainly wouldn’t call you an old timer! I don’t know about you, but I’m 51 and I tend to love the older stuff more than the new stuff. I don’t think that makes us old, or young.. instead I think it just means that we appreciate good music no matter when it came out.
🙂
I so get what you’re saying… generally I try to avoid new “hit” music and after about 15 minutes of having to hear it somewhere, I’m reminded why. But this song, and band, are not bad at all. I didn’t recognize the title, but once I was playing it, I did. There’ve been several times when there’s a “new” song I pass by on radio or hear in a commercial that I think “well, that’s quite good” and it’s turned out to be One Republic.
I feel the same way you do! While I’ve never actually gone out and purchased an entire album of theirs, based on what I’ve heard, I don’t think I’d be making a bad choice or wasting money by buying one. I have tended to like most of the stuff that they have put out.
As much as I loved DJing weddings, proms, and homecomings I always tended to leave with a headache and never really understanding the music I was playing at all.
You’re trying to bring CB up to date. The draft is exposing me to some new sounds. There has to be a Detroit connection in that tune somewhere.
I’ll keep looking for that Detroit connection! LOL
I love One Republic and love this song. I can’t believe it’s already seven years old, and I agree that it should have been a much bigger hit. I was frankly surprised it wasn’t, coming on the heels of their massive hit “Counting Stars”, but there’s no figuring out the public’s music tastes. Those of you who regularly follow my blog know I do a weekly Top 30 of current hits, then a Top 100 at the end of each year. I had to go back to check where I’d ranked this song, and was pleased to see I put it at #26 on my Top 100 Best Songs of 2014 list.
As for new music, I agree that a lot of what appears on the pop charts these days is crap, but there’s still a lot of great music being made by lots of talented and unique artists and bands like Lord Huron, Fleet Foxes, The Black Keys, Tame Impala, Glass Animals, Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Gang of Youths, grandson, The Killers, Two Feet and Maggie Rogers, to name but a few. I refuse to keep listening to the same old stuff I liked in the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s, while disregarding anything less than 20 years old.
I mentioned in a reply to Max above that the challenge with today’s music is finding the diamond in the rough. Sometimes you have to weed through a lot of crap to find the really good stuff.
I’ve never paid attention to OneRepublic before. This one took me a second listen to start appreciating it, but there’s plenty to like. I’m always glad to be pointed to newer music that’s worth a listen. What some of the other commenters said is right, that the new good stuff is out there. It’s just hard to weed out from the rest.
OneRepublic aren’t a band I usually listen to, but this is undoubtedly a well crafted and catchy pop tune.
My sweet spot in general are the ’60s and ’70s. As such, much of contemporary music is a tough proposition, especially pretty much anything that’s in the mainstream charts.
That said, I do agree there still is some decent contemporary music out there, but it does take some time to find and an open mind to go a bit beyond your comfort zone, at least every now and then. In fact, for the past 1.5 years, I’ve been doing a weekly feature that’s focused on new music.
Some of it are new songs by “old” artists I’ve loved for many years, but most of what ends up in these posts are more recent bands and artists I had not heard of before. It’s been pretty rewarding.