Singer/songwriter makes mark with fourth studio album
Love songs fuel the world of music, uniting listeners on the most basic — both bruising and euphoric — emotions. But there are only a select few who can evoke the certain passion and relatable, raw understanding to push their tracks to the top.
Gavin has the gift.
The acoustic pop star has pumped up the bass and added a little “sexy,” as DeGraw has said in multiple interviews, to his established sound with his fourth and latest record “Sweeter.”
Entering the industry with sweet, side-swept acoustics, DeGraw has come a long way since 2003’s “Chariot,” the songster’s debut album. “Follow Through,” DeGraw’s first chart-topping single, spoke to his strengths, easing into a sure talent with a fresh-faced innocence to his sound and his songs.
The original album’s premiere single follows through with its message, opening with, “Oh this is the start of something good / Don’t you agree?”
Yes, it was something good, and now it is all so much sweeter.
Multiple release dates for “Sweeter” were set and extended, and, paired with DeGraw’s very public New York City mugging, the album took the rocky road to fruition.
But the 10-track full-length has pushed DeGraw into his own, taking listeners on a back-and-forth passionate and soul-driven journey through the ups and downs, doubts, angst and all-out desire of love.
For the first time in his career, DeGraw brought in co-writers for three of the album’s songs — a move that surely added to the delivered funk, soul and hip-hop infused beats at the start of “Sweeter.”
Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic frontman and Top 40 songwriter (for artist such as Beyonce, Adele, Leona Lewis), co-wrote the album’s opener, pushing DeGraw through the heavy guitar, back clap and piano-driven title track.
The song is real and opens the album with an angst that hasn’t been seen from DeGraw — it’s angry, it’s bitter, it’s jealous.
It transforms DeGraw from the piano playing, pop-rock heartthrob to the borderline bad boy on a sure path for revenge in the land of love, singing, “I just wanna take someone else’s holiday / Sometimes the grass is greener, and someone else’s sugar sweeter.”
“Not Over You,” the album’s first single, was also a collaborative effort with Tedder, reverting to the sensitive side of the story, while keeping the driving drums and pop star hip-hop flavor.
Its May release found radio and Billboard chart success, singing out the story of a love lost but not let go. It relates DeGraw to his listeners in a lyrically honest way, achieving a connection that many have attempted but few have successfully grasped — one so fundamental in its concept but critically leveling in its execution.
“Sweeter” goes on to tease listeners with emotionally charged feel-goods and dredged-up reflections.
“Run Every Time,” co-written with Andrew Frampton, and the following track “Soldier” steal the show, contrasting each other in their tale and tempo but summing up “Sweeter’s” style and mission in just over six minutes.
The first starts off slow, paced with a peddle, revving up for its chorus: “Oh, she’s ready, I’m not ready / I hear people go crazy for steady / But me, I run every time.”
And the latter breaks it back down to DeGraw’s signature acoustics and soul, each lyric ending with a beautifully strained punch of feeling.
“Candy” and “Radiation” keep the album going, with the second building off DeGraw’s newfound bite, as the close of the album slows things back down to the final “Spell It Out.”
“Sweeter” fulfills its promise, giving DeGraw fans a new edge to their favorite’s acoustic charm. It opens with a Tedder-inspired flair, adding the heavier backing beats, tapering out to an earlier-career acoustic.
It is a love album, and each song is a contradiction to the last, attempting to give words to a feeling that is so individual but in the end so very relatable. And it so perfectly achieves its mission.