OneRepublic

"The toughest thing to do is write a hit song and the easiest thing to do is act like a rock band,"

says OneRepublic singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder. "But we had a hit song before we had an album and we can't pull off the 'rock god' thing. We do everything backwards.

OneRepublic's hit "Apologize" was not even the song's original version, but a remix heard on Timbaland Presents: Shock Value. The original appears on Dreaming Out Loud, the band's debut album, released November 20, 2007, on Timbaland's Mosley Music Group imprint via Interscope Records. That's right, OneRepublic is a full-on rock band executive-produced and on a label headed by a super-producer best known for hip-hop (Missy Elliott, Jay-Z) and who has branched out into pop (Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado).

"It sounds insane," says Tedder, who produced a couple of songs on the album, largely produced by Greg Wells (Deftones, Mika, Pink). "But Timbaland is the single most musical guy I've ever met, no matter the genre. That's why we said, 'Let's do it.' If you do things for the right reason, good things happen."

A few years ago, Tedder had another choice - either go down the road of writing and performing "pop" tunes as a solo artist or try to strike out in his own direction making music he felt could connect on a more personal level. He chose the latter.