If I Lose Myself

Writing and inspiration

OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder told Billboard about the song's lyrics: "It's actually about my buried, latent fear of flying and going down in an airplane, having that moment of sheer panic, looking out the window, seeing your life pass before you and somehow finding comfort in the fact that the person next to you is experiencing the same traumatic event."

Composition

"If I Lose Myself" runs for 4:01 minutes and has a tempo of 140 beats per minute.

Live performances

On March 28, 2013, OneRepublic performed "If I Lose Myself" on American Idol with former Idol contestant and NBC Smash star Katharine McPhee. They also performed on Good Morning America, The Ellen Degeneres Show and Rachael Ray, as well as several other concerts and festivals.

Music video

In an interview with fuse.tv, Tedder said, "The original concept [for the video] was borrowing from the opening scene of Garden State—the plane's going down and all the oxygen masks drop out and everyone's going crazy... We chased that for a minute but realized... It's one thing to watch that kind of video once, but you don't wanna sit there and hit repeat on watching a plane crash."

The music video was released on January 24, 2013. In the video, a group of people are sent a text from Tedder, of a picture of a wolf and the numbers 11.11.11 at the bottom. The camera follows the group around the city chasing clues that are spray painted on fire hydrants and street signs around the town that will help them guide their way to a secret concert that OneRepublic is holding. The video cuts to scenes of the band performing the song in a dark, smokey room with colored lights surrounding the room with a bunch of fans dancing. There are pictures of owls and foxes being projected around the room which are allusions to the album cover for Native. At the end of the video, there is a fox being projected on Tedder's face. The video was inspired by the movies 12 Monkeys and The Matrix.

The video has over 123 million views as of November 2025. It is one of the top ten most viewed OneRepublic music videos.

Track listing

• Digital download

1. "If I Lose Myself" – 4:01

• Digital download – remix

1. "If I Lose Myself" (OneRepublic vs Alesso) – 3:34

• CD single

1. "If I Lose Myself" (Album version) – 4:01
2. "If I Lose Myself" (Love Thy Brother remix) – 4:03

Credits and personnel

Recording

• Recorded at Black Rock Studios, Santorini, Greece; The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia; Lotzah Matzah Studios, New York City, New York; Patriot Studios, Denver, Colorado; Downtown Studios, New York City, New York; Orion Studio, Orange County, California
• Mixed at MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York

Personnel

• Songwriting – Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, Brent Kutzle, Zach Filkins
• Production – Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder
• Co-production – Brent Kutzle
• Mixing – Serban Ghenea
• Engineering – Smith Carlson, Ryan Tedder
• Assistant engineering – Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky, Chris Sclafani, Matthew Tryba
• Backing vocals – Zach Filkins, Drew Brown, Eddie Fisher, Brent Kutzle, David McGlohon
• Instrumentation and programming – Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, OneRepublic
• Mix engineering – John Hanes
• Assistant mix engineering – Phil Seaford
• Mastering – Chris Gehringer, Will Quinnell

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Alesso vs. OneRepublic version

A progressive house version of the song remixed by Swedish producer Alesso was played for the first time at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida on March 24, 2013, and was released in certain countries on March 30, notably Netherlands and Sweden, charting with a version credited to OneRepublic vs. Alesso. "If I Lose Myself" was promoted and released in the United Kingdom and Australia in February 2014. This remix was later featured on both the UK and US reissue of the group's album, Native, as well as Alesso's debut album, Forever (2015).

The remix was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. Alesso explained:

Track listing

• ;Digital download

1. "If I Lose Myself" (OneRepublic vs. Alesso) – 3:34

• ;Digital download — extended remix

1. "If I Lose Myself" (OneRepublic vs. Alesso) (extended remix) – 7:08

Charts

Certifications

References

References

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2. Greenwald, David. (January 29, 2013). "OneRepublic's 'If I Lose Myself' Video: Go Behind the Scenes".
3. Ho, Alan. "Pop/rockers return in top form on spectacular third effort". Musiqtone.com.
4. Lansky, Sam. (December 18, 2012). "OneRepublic's "If I Lose Myself": Hear Their New Single". [[Idolator (website).
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24. (May 3, 2013). "Interview with Alesso: 'I'm still working on my sound, I'm still evolving as an artist'".
25. "iTunes - Music - If I Lose Myself (Alesso vs OneRepublic) - Single by OneRepublic & Alesso". iTunes.
26. "If I Lose Myself (Alesso vs. OneRepublic Extended Remix) [Mosley Music / Interscope Records] :: Beatport".
27. "Alesso vs OneRepublic – If I Lose Myself". [[Swedish Recording Industry Association.