Pop-music fans might not have heard the name Ryan Tedder, but they've surely heard his songs. The singer/songwriter for OneRepublic, which opens Wednesday night for Rob Thomas at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood, penned one of the biggest hits -- and most infectious - of the decade, Apologize, plus Bleeding Love, made famous by X-Factor winner Leona Lewis.

Tedder talked to The Miami Herald about songwriting, what to expect from the show, and his thoughts on Kanye West's outburst at the VMAs.

Q. Did you know you had something extra special after you wrote Apologize?

A. ``I did, truthfully. It was one of those rare songs where it didn't matter if I heard it 100 times -- I never got sick of it, and still got goose bumps at the exact same place. I can't really put my finger on what that is -- I've done it in a handful of songs for other artists. And when I do it, I really don't know how I did it. It just kind of happens -- you write enough songs and hope that one out of 20 turns out to be special like that.

``And I put my whole career on that song. I had multiple offers from people to buy the song from me over the years, and I passed on all of them. I said, `If I can't have my own career in a band with a song like this, then no one else is going to.' And if this isn't a hit, then I need to pick a new profession, because I don't know what a hit is.''

Q. Did you write Bleeding Love specifically for Leona Lewis?

A. ``No, I did not. I discovered her about a month after I wrote the song, and immediately thought, this is the kind of song somebody like that could absolutely take to another level. Writing a hit song, having a hit song on your computer or hard drive is one thing, but the amount of red tape and luck you need to actually have it be a hit is an entirely different thing. I've had songs that never ended up becoming hits because I put them on the wrong artist. Only when the marriage of the song and artist is perfect can you end up with a really big hit.''

Q. How long will you get to play at the show?

A. ``I think it's a 40- or 45-minute set, and it'll be 50-50: We're gonna do the singles off the last album and maybe one other song, and we're gonna do I think four songs off the new album. And we worked up a really cool cover song that Rob Thomas fans are gonna flip out for.''

Q. Were you at the VMAs?

A. ``I was not -- I was actually in the studio, and we happened to be watching it when all the shenanigans went down. It was pretty frickin' ridiculous.''

Q. What did you think about Kanye West's outburst?

A. ``Being somewhat of a musical savant doesn't excuse idiotic behavior. I'm from the Midwest -- Oklahoma and Colorado -- and the people I'm around are so normal that whenever I go to events like that my stomach turns. Fifty percent of the people there are wearing Prada sunglasses indoors. I don't mind if Prince does it, because he's Prince, but it's like everybody's just trying to outdo each other. You know the kids who have middle-child syndrome, the kids who don't get enough attention growing up? I feel like I'm surrounded by 500 middle childs.''

-- MICHAEL HAMERSLY

Rob Thomas with OneRepublic: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hard Rock Live near Hollywood; $40-$75 at ticketmaster.com.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@