Ryan Tedder is plagued during his sleep by a recurring nightmare
The OneRepublic frontman – who has penned hits for the likes of Beyonce and Adele – has a regular dream in which he is told he has failed his physical education course at college and cannot graduate from school.
Speaking about the troubling vision, he told the BBC: "I’ve had this one since college. It’s the last week of school, and I get a call from a professor saying, ‘You didn’t come to my class once this entire semester and I’m failing you, so you’re not going to graduate.’
The 37-year-old ‘Kids’ songwriter’s dream has its basis in reality, as he was actually listed to be taking part in a PE course that he had no idea about while he was a student at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma and it almost got him flunked.
Ryan – who graduated from ORU in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations and Advertising – explained: "You know why I have that dream? Because that actually happened. I was enrolled on a physical education course, but I didn’t know and I missed every lesson. The guy said the only way he’d pass me was if I came in the next three days in a row, and ran two miles, then three miles, then five miles. And I had to do each one in a certain time. The three-mile race I had to do in 22 minutes, so a seven-minute mile, and I almost died.
After I did it, the guy looked at me and he shook his head, and he said, ‘You’re lucky you’re in decent shape because I was ready to fail you.’ "
Despite his recurring nightmare, Ryan has proved that failing isn’t an option for him and his One Republic bandmates who have won a host of awards and have just released their fifth album ‘Oh My My’.