OneRepublic Decodes “Stop and Stare”
After watching the awesome-but-hard-to-follow video for “Stop and Stare” by OneRepublic, we were left with some questions. For example — who’s the old guy? Where’s that creepy motel? Did this cost as much as a movie? Luckily, OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Tedder is such a nice fellow, he stopped by to walk us through the imagery-laden musical epic, plus fill us in on the band’s next video.
1. This video almost didn’t happen.
“We had written a treatment originally, and it just got too complicated and over-budget,” Tedder said. Originally set on the Lower East Side, the band settled for the desert locale when director Anthony Mandler submitted his treatment. “We got [the expense of the video] down from $620,000 to $450,000…which for a new band – no bands are getting that kind of budget right now.”
2. Don’t worry; you’re not the only one confused.
“A lot of people have questions as to what [the video’s] about,” says Tedder. “Any time you see a shot of me, it’s me contemplating where I’m at in my life when the song was written. The grave and the priest represent death, and the girl who’s later pregnant represents birth and life.”
Read the rest of this entry »
