“All The Right Moves” by OneRepublic

According to OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, the writer of “All the Right Moves”, this track reflects a certain era in the life of the band. During this early period of OneRepublic’s existence they were “completely discarded by the critics” despite laying down a hit song via their first single, 2007’s “Apologize”.

So in this track in particular you see Tedder comparing “we” (as in OneRepublic) to “them” (likely a more-popular competitor). And what he is basically saying is that no matter how hard he tries, he and his homeys cannot transform themselves into someone else, as into another band who is more-popular than they are.

Also prevalent throughout the song is the statement “we’re going down”. This seems to allude to him and his bandmates actually making it big. And in that regard, they have “all the right friends in all the right places” as well as “all the right moves and all the right faces”. What they basically mean is that they have the connections, talent and looks to be successful within the field of their endeavors. However, considering the aforementioned background of the track, these actually read like sarcastic statements, as in they are actually mocking the music industry.

Conclusion

So what this all boils down to is that in the wake of their continued success, OneRepublic remembers how they were initially mistreated and considered as flukes. And now they are here to remind the world, albeit in a sarcastic, self-deprecating tone, that at a certain point in time they actually suffered such trying criticisms.

Facts about “All The Right Moves”

• “All The Right Moves” was authored by frequent OneRepublic songwriter, Ryan Tedder.
• Tedder was part of the song’s production team, which included other producers like Andy Prickett and Brent Kutzle.
• “All The Right Moves” is the first single from OneRepublic’s 2009 studio album, dubbed, Waking Up. This song, which features as No.2 on the album’s tracklist, was released on September 29th, 2009.
• Popular music video director, Wayne Isham’s first collaborative effort with the band came in 2009 when he directed the music video for this track.
• This tune was used in the American TV reality show, titled, High Society.
• “All The Right Moves” reached No.2 in Switzerland. In the U.S. it reached No.18, whereas its peak position was at No.26 in the UK.
•  “All The Right Moves” sold over two million copies in the U.S., earning it double Platinum certification there.

Remixes/Covers/Sampling

A number of remix versions of this song have so far been released by numerous artists. Some of these artists include:

• Fred Falke
• Danger
• Dave Audé

In 2010, “All the Right Moves” was covered by Kidz Bop Kids.

The track has also been heavily sampled over since its release. Below are some of the notable songs that have sampled this song:

• Chris Webby’s 2010 song “Goin Down”
• DJ Rusko’s 2011 song “Everyday”

In 2011, French DJ and record producer, Madeon sampled components of the song in his “Pop Culture”.