Kids (song)

***Kids*** is a song recorded by OneRepublic as the second single and fourth song on their fourth studio album, Oh My My.

## Background

The single's title and artwork were officially announced on the band's Twitter account on August 3, 2016. On August 8, 2016, Ryan Tedder posted a video to the band's Twitter account detailing that the song would be released that coming Friday-August 12, 2016.  On August 10, 2016, the song recieved further promotion on the band's twitter account including the hashtag "#OneRepublicKIDS" and a ten second snippet from the song ahead of its release. In an interview with EW, Tedder discussed some of the backstory to *Kids*. In reference to the new style of music from the band Tedder states that "it's a conscious departure...As an artist or musician, if you're not...pushing envelope to see if it pops, you're not doing it right...this album is by far our most evolved." Tedder goes on to credit co-writer Brent Kutzle with the musical direction. "He pushed me musically. It's a big credit to [Brent] for the musical direction on this album." Tedder explains that he came up with the melody for *Kids* in 30 secinds and recorded it on his phone. "Later...we recorded it as a placeholder on [a] laptop. But we were never album to beat that sound. It sounded so perfect for that song."

## Release and Promotion

The song premiered on Fresh 102.7 fm on August 11, 2016, followed shortly by the release in Oceania. It was released globally on August 12, 2016 on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3 and other services.

To promote the new single, Ryan Tedder appeared on Radio 1's Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw to discuss the track on its release day.

## Critical Reception

Dan Wootton from *The Sun* had an exclusive early listen to the song.  Wootton praised the track calling it a "stomping summer smash", and detailed some of the lyrics publicly for the first time. Wootton confirmed that the track was about childhood friendship and called the message "lovely". Concluding the article Wootton proclaimed Tedder as "undoubtedly the best songwriter of his generation". MTV UK also had an early listen to the track and called it an "epic summer tune...that will get stuck in your head for DAYS [sic]"

## Lyrics

Days when
We'd fight, we'd fight 'til I would give in
Yeah, perfect disasters
We were reaching, reaching for the rafters

And on most of the days we were searching for ways
To get up and get out of the town that we were raised, yeah,
Cause we were done
 remember, we were sleeping in cars
We were searching for OZ
We were burning cigars
With white plastics tips 'til we saw the sun]]
And we said crazy things like

I refuse to look back thinking days were better
Just because they're younger days
I don't know what's 'round the corner
Way I feel right now I swear we'll never change
Back when we were kids
Swore we would never die
You and me were kids
Swear that we’ll never die]]

Lights down
And we drive and we're drivin' just to get out
Yeah, perfect disasters
Yeah we were swinging, swinging from the rafters

Hey, we were dancing in cars
We were looking for ours
We were naming the stars
After people we knew 'til we had to go
And we were saying things like

I refuse to look back thinking days were better
Just because they're younger days
I don't know what's 'round the corner
Way I feel right now I swear we'll never change
Back when we were kids
Swore we would never die
You and me were kids
Swear that we'll never die

Nights when we kept dancing
Changing all our plans and
Making every day a holiday
Feel the years start burning
City lights they're turning
Something 'bout this feels the same

Back when we were kids
Swore we would never die
You and me were kids
Swear that we'll never die
I refuse to look back thinking days were better
Just because they're younger days
I don't know what's 'round the corner
Way I feel right now I swear we’ll never change

You and me were kids

#### Genius Annotation

Ryan Tedder also exclusively annotated some of the lyrics on the lyric database Genius.

## References

1. ↑ Billboard interview with Ryan Tedder
2. ↑ Announcement on Twitter
3. ↑ Twitter video announcing release date
4. ↑ Song snippet on Twitter
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 EW Interview August 11 2016
6. ↑ Carson and Cane 102.7fm Premiere
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dan Wootton The Sun
8. ↑ MTV early review
9. ↑ Lyric Annotation