-First time sitting on the couch talking to you.
-Yeah, first time. I have a lot of extra room here, thank you.
-Yeah, no problem.
You can stretch out if you ever feel like it.
You've been here with OneRepublic many times,
and thank you for doing that.
You know I'm a fan.
You know OneRepublic, the hits --
"Counting Stars," "Good Life."
♪ Too late to apologize ♪
Yeah, it think it's great. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah. -No biggie, just the classics.
But you've also written and co-written songs for artists
that you might not know at home that Ryan Tedder was involved.
I'm just going to go down the list, really quickly.
"Rumor Has It," Adele.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Not too shabby.
"Halo," Beyoncé.
What? [ Cheers and applause ]
"Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis. "Burn," Ellie Goulding.
"Welcome to New York," Taylor Swift.
"Already Gone," Kelly Clarkson.
"Sucker" and "Cool" by the Jonas Brothers.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Stay laying, stay laying, just stay laying down there.
Yeah, lay it out. Yeah, just chill.
I mean, you've done enough. I mean, please.
-Let's use this. -Let's use the space.
What's the problem? -We got it. It's beautiful.
-But can we talk about these other legends
you've worked with? U2. -Yeah.
-When did you work with them?
-U2, the last two albums.
I was not responsible for
putting the album in everybody's iTunes,
but I got to produce the last two albums.
You know Bono.
-Well, I can't say, but I do know a little bit.
-Well, you know a little. -Sure. Absolutely. Unbelievable.
He's a magical dude. -He is. Crazy experience.
One story? -Yeah.
-Okay, so first time I'm working with --
I was actually in New York, at Electric Lady.
I'm with The Edge. I'm with Bono.
It's our second day writing.
We have our laptops open, we're combing through ideas,
and we hear a knock-knock on the door.
And Bono is like, "Who is it?"
Lady opens the door, assistant,
she goes, "Bono, I have a phone call for you."
-Yeah. -"Can you take it?"
He's like, "Tell them I'll call them back."
Go back to writing, knock, knock, knock, 30 seconds later.
Opens the door.
"Bono, you should really take the call."
He's like, "For...sake, who is it?"
Turns around -- "It's the Pope."
[ Laughter ]
God as my witness.
-Literally. Yeah, literally. [ Laughter ]
-God as my witness. -Literally.
Actually, the Pope is calling Bono.
-The Pope was calling him to have a conversation.
The Edge is on the laptop, and he just glances, and he goes --
and he keeps going. Doesn't even acknowledge it.
Bono looks at me -- Where's the camera?
He looks at me and he goes, "Duty calls."
[ Laughter ]
-And then he flies away.
-Walks off. -Like a superhero. Flies away.
-True story. Second day.
I turn to Edge and I go, "Is that -- Did he --"
-Yeah. That's their life.
-He's like, "He takes phone calls all the time."
-That's their life. That's what they do.
-He's saving the world.
-You've worked with them, with Paul McCartney.
I loved "Egypt Station." -Paul McCartney.
-You worked with -- I mean, do you get nervous
when you're producing and writing with Paul McCartney?
-McCartney -- I did get nervous.
I said a prayer before I walked in the studio.
-Well, you know the Pope now, kind of.
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. -Through a friend of a friend.
-When you walk in the door with McCartney, it's McCartney.
So I literally walk in there, I was like, "God, please.
Be funny, don't be stupid. Be smart, be talented.
Please be talented. Please be talented."
And everything just kind of clicked.
Walked in the door, he makes you feel comfortable.
He's super talented.
I will say, it was kind of embarrassing.
I had to apologize to him
because when he first reached out to me, he called me.
His manager said, "Paul is gonna call you in the next month."
Great, all right.
So I'll leave my phone on, and I'm at a lunch.
I get a call from a plus-44, it's the U.K.
I hit Ignore. Calls back. I hit Ignore again.
-So at this point you forgot that he's calling you.
-I forgot. I forgot. This is three weeks later. I forgot.
I hit Ignore for the third time,
and I get a text saying "Hey, Ryan, free to talk?"
I write back "New number, who dis?"
[ Laughter ]
-No, that's funny. That's funny.
-Not making it up. -That's what I would do.
-Not making it up.
And he writes back "It's Pete," and I write back, a capital P,
and I write back "Pete?" Sir Paul.
I immediately grab the phone, like, "Oh!"
[ Laughter ]
-Don't hang up! Don't hang up!
Hello, Ryan. Hey, Ryan, yeah.
-Hey, it's good to talk to you, man.
-He's the greatest, man. -He's the best. He's the best.