As we have moved further and further into the 00s, digital\/online music has launched a full-fledged assault on standard radio. This humble reviewer barely turns on the radio anymore, preferring to just plug in the iPod and listen to what I<\/i> want played.<\/p>\n
The means of spreading one\u2019s music have become much more diversified; one does not necessarily gain notoriety by having LA KISS constantly playing a hit song. Instead, a song is spread across the Internet by word of mouth, or used in a commercial or as the intro to a television show.<\/p>\n
DeGraw\u2019s album, Chariot,<\/i> came out in 2003 but has remained in the forefront of people\u2019s mind due to his song \u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Be\u201d being used as the theme song for One Tree Hill<\/i> on the former WB network. He has a new album coming out later this year, due in no small part I would wager to his sustained popularity. His performance on Chariot<\/i> merits some anticipation for the release \u2013 not a tremendous amount, but there is potential lurking.<\/p>\n
An inevitable part of \u201cmaking it\u201d in the music business is that the raw energy and passion put into the early hardships of a career don\u2019t translate well in the studio. Gavin DeGraw has talent, but that talent is buried underneath a poppy sheen that undermines his potentially strong material.<\/p>\n
The best material occurs early on when the melodies overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies. \u201cFollow Through\u201d sounds too much like a Goo Goo Dolls track, but \u201cChariot\u201d and \u201cJust Friends\u201d are solid, piano-driven rock songs. The latter is a picture-perfect example of a modern power ballad, showcasing an intuitive knowledge of what makes pop \u201cpop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Be,\u201d the big smash single, does feature a catchy refrain and a fairly meaty opening riff, but nevertheless, it lacks that oomph. \u201cChemical Party\u201d plays out much in the same manner, trying to make DeGraw sound like Weezer, but to be honest, that\u2019s not his sound. The majority of the album attempts to clarify just what kind of artists he is, but in the end nothing solid is unearthed.<\/p>\n
The copy of the album that I purchased was released in 2004 and contains a second disc that is essentially Chariot<\/i> but stripped down to the basics. Not surprisingly, this is where these songs really come alive and sound much more genuine and cutting. This is the route DeGraw needs to take, especially if he wants to be a cut above your run of the mill pop star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":29271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8167],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-40814","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-gavin-degraw","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40814"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}