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SourceCHERYL COLE'S NEW MOVE TO CRACK AMERICA
CHERYL Cole has started work on her second solo album and is upping the ante.
I can reveal America’s biggest songwriter Ryan Tedder, 30, was in the studio with the Girls Aloud star at the weekend.
And it proves plans to crack the States are definitely at the forefront of the Geordie singer’s mind.
Ryan told me: “I got into England early on Saturday and went straight into the studio with Cheryl. We’re going to try and take the dance thing in a quirky new direction and make it a little more funky."
“I’m very excited about the tracks. I’m not going to turn her into something weird but it’s different to anything she’s done.”
With Simon Cowell, 50, keen for Chezza, 26, to give him a helping hand Stateside, a spot on the judging panel of X Factor America would tie in nicely.
And OneRepublic frontman Ryan, who has penned international smashes like Beyoncé’s Halo and Leona Lewis’s Bleeding Love, is impressed by the Fight For This Love singer’s British credentials.
He said: “Cheryl’s about as famous as J-Lo was in her heyday but she’s so nice and genuine. Cheryl said there are songs Americans can get away with and she can’t."
“It’s typical for a successful American female to put out a song about how famous or rich they are. But that’s not a British thing to do. Cheryl connects with being real and this is what the songs are about.”
Go girl. OneRepublic’s new album Waking Up is out on January 18.
And another.On the surface, Ryan Tedder exudes professional poise and a calm born of Pentecostal faith. But they mask the fact that the hottest songwriter/producer in the land also is the most harried, with a head full of hooks and beats that just ... will ... not ... stop streaming onto the charts.
"I'm Mr. 20 plates spinning to the extreme," says Tedder, 31. Consider what he's pulling out of the cupboard these days:
•He's up for two top Grammys on Jan. 31: record of the year for Halo, a No. 1 hit he co-wrote and produced for Beyoncé, and album of the year for Beyoncé's I Am ... Sasha Fierce, a No. 1 album on which he has writing and production credits.
MORE: What goes through Tedder's mind as he composes?
•He co-wrote and produced the single Happy (more than 402,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan) and two other songs for Leona Lewis' new Echo album.
•His work probably will show up on 2010 releases from Katy Perry, Adele, Estelle, Jennifer Hudson, Cheryl Cole, Orianthi and Nikki Flores, an artist he discovered and signed to his Patriot Records. That comes on the heels of projects he did last year with Rihanna, Daughtry, Jordin Sparks and Rascal Flatts.
Somehow he found time to write, record and tour behind a second album with his own group, OneRepublic Released in November, Waking Up and single All the Right Moves have scored modest chart success, though nothing like the group's 2007 platinum debut, Dreaming Out Loud, which spawned Apologize.
This avalanche comes despite the fact that Tedder turns down 90% of his business opportunities. "The best decision I can make is to say 'no,' " he says. "When I'm trying to do eight artists at the same time, I don't do my best work. I would rather put out two year-defining songs a year than flood the market with eight or nine songs."
Since becoming the go-to guy over the past few years in R&B, country and pop, he has discovered that "some of the best songs come when I'm not trying to get on anybody's album. I just sit down at the piano and write because I like writing. Honest to God, I would do it for free."
That's not crazy talk — he really appears to have soaked up admirable values and a solid work ethic while growing up in Oklahoma (he's now based in Denver) and listening only to Christian music for the first nine years of his life.
"Music is the most influential thing in the world, along with religion," he says. "And for some, music is religion."
Once he discovered secular sounds, "a light went off," and he knew it would be his career path. "I started at 20 with a record deal (and) paid dues for seven years in a major way," including a stint in Nashville, where he learned the songwriting craft. "Eventually, I connected. I haven't arrived at all by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm happy with where I'm at."
Tedder's greatest strength may be his versatility — and that may be the key to a long career, says Bill Gamble, program director for country station WUSN-FM and adult contemporary station WCFS-FM, both in Chicago. "There are just some people out there who have a God-given ability to write hit songs. If you connect, no one cares how long you've been doing it or how old you are."
Though Tedder realizes he has a hot hand at the moment, he says he always favors a tried-and-true approach. "I'm trying not to follow fads too much," he says. "People will always want to hear an honest lyric with a great melody, something they emotionally connect with. Honest always sells. Always has, always will."
I fear this is the end.
when i talk about her in my country ppl are like 'Who?'...
