OneRepublic's go-go-go lifestyle finally caught up with frontman Ryan Tedder and nearly pushed him over the edge and into a nervous breakdown.
The uber-talented singer posted a detailed message to Facebook on April 27 and told fans why the band has been largely MIA over the past several months. He also revealed that he almost quit the band.
"We've been a band now for 10 years as of January, and in that time we have gone nonstop… album, tour, album, tour etc… on Native we toured 2 1/2 years… 50+ countries and 225 dates," he wrote. "We went straight from that into finishing 'Oh My My', our longest (and most difficult to finish), and straight from that into promo for 'Wherever I Go' in April 2016. About 3-4 weeks into the promo for the 2nd single 'Kids' I hit a physical, emotional, psychological wall. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, not sleeping, on meds, not happy, anxiety on a crippling level and it was triggered from sheer exhaustion."
He said that he looked at the 2016 calendar and realized how long he'd been away from his family and his life.
"I also realized that had been the last 10 years. At that moment I wanted to quit, and almost did," he said. "I called my manager and said 'pull the plug'… cancel tv's cancel promo, cancel the single, cancel the album."
The band at the time was planning a U.S. and European tour, meaning he would be back on the road for an extended amount of time.
"The thought of it literally sent me into a sweat and made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack," he said. "Crippling anxiety. It also made me stop writing songs. I didn't have the motivation or joy necessary to. That's over now."
In the lengthy post, Ryan also said OneRepublic is going to change how they release music, saying they will start releasing songs, not albums.
"Starting tomorrow we will be dropping new music as often as humanly possible… monthly, weekly sometimes, and it will be VARIED and with collaborations and may feel bonkers at first," he wrote. "My goal for now is I want people to bliss out. We are in some dark times, we wanna make some lifted music that helps people feel happy. Feel connected, feel human, and love each other as much as possible. BLISS. OUT."
He added, "We will tour when it makes sense, put out artwork when it's good, and we are making [merchandise] WE wanna wear… for you. We will go to radio with songs when it feels like we should, not before. And we will tour… but not so much we end up hating life. "