Maps of Music

Artificial Paradise (2024)

Where the lyrics of Artificial Paradise take you, and where it was really made.

The first song was written in a New Orleans hotel room in 2016, and the album was pieced together over eight years in hotel rooms and studios around the world.

Key places

Hotel room and studio sessions (2024)

Recording site Kempinski Hotel Corvinus — The album's songs were written and recorded in different hotel rooms and studios around the world. MusicBrainz links Kempinski Hotel Corvinus in Budapest to this album as a recording place. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Artificial Paradise: sixth studio album by American pop rock band OneRepublic
• Released July 12, 2024 through Mosley Music Group and Interscope Records
• Follows the fifth studio album, Human (2021)
• Includes eight singles released from 2021 to 2024
• Last album under the band's Interscope contract, before signing with BMG in July 2025
• Super deluxe edition released December 6, 2024, with acoustic versions of some tracks

Background

• West Coast, written in 2016 in a New Orleans hotel room, was the starting point
• Standalone singles released in the following eight years were kept as more songs were written
• Ryan Tedder said the rest of the album was completed in the last couple years
• Tedder described the title as resonant with the world the band currently lives in
• Digital tracklist changed by Tedder two weeks before release so that the album would flow better

Recording

• More songs were written and recorded in different hotel rooms and studios around the world
• MusicBrainz lists Kempinski Hotel Corvinus in Budapest as a recording place

Cover

• Creative direction by Brody Harper
• Band photography by Jeremy Cowart
• Physical edition uses a 6-panel gatefold cardboard sleeve

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, who met as seniors at Colorado Springs Christian High School.
• Early incarnation was named This Beautiful Mess, then Republic after reuniting in Los Angeles in 2003.
• Renamed OneRepublic after the record company warned that the name Republic might lead to legal action from similarly named bands.
• Signed to Columbia Records' Velvet Hammer imprint, but was dropped two months before its first album was due.

Members

• Current lineup: Ryan Tedder (lead vocals, piano), Zach Filkins (lead guitar, viola), Drew Brown (rhythm guitar), Brent Kutzle (bass, cello), Eddie Fisher (drums), Brian Willett (keyboards).

Career

• Achieved early success on MySpace as an unsigned act before signing with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group.
• Debut album Dreaming Out Loud (2007) hit No. 14 in the US; lead single "Apologize" reached No. 1 in sixteen countries and earned a Grammy nomination.
• Native (2013) was their first top-ten Billboard 200 album; "Counting Stars" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Signed to BMG in 2025 after 18 years with Mosley and Interscope Records.
• Has sold approximately over 16 million records worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Carla Feric of The Independent wrote that the album has a selection of catchy anthems and lively, light, summery tracks
• Feric felt OneRepublic made a musically progressive blend that is easy to listen to
• Feric added that the album has enough tracks for anyone to find at least one song they will enjoy
• Taylor Weatherby, writing for Grammy.com, called it a seamless blend of songs that resonates with longtime and newer fans
• Weatherby praised the layered production of Hurt, the feel-good vibes of Serotonin, and the evocative lyrics of Last Holiday
• Weatherby concluded that the band's sound is as polished as it is ever-evolving
• Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic concluded that Tedder knows what he is doing
• Yeung compared the album's crowd-pleasing optimism to recent output by Imagine Dragons and Coldplay
• Yeung described the optimism as if the band were on autopilot, with mixed judgment on whether that is good or bad

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Tedder changed the digital tracklist two weeks before release because the order did not flow and would not feel new to fans; all new songs except I Ain't Worried were placed at the front.
• Hurt was the first single released after the album's announcement and was released as the ninth single on July 5, 2024.
• Sink or Swim was released as the tenth and final single on August 29, alongside a music video.
• I Ain't Worried comes from the soundtrack of Top Gun: Maverick, Mirage was made with Mishaal Tamer for Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Nobody comes from Kaiju No. 8.
• Tedder told Billboard that Artificial Paradise closes a musical path taken over the last three albums.
• The physical release uses a 6-panel gatefold cardboard sleeve.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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