Gavin DeGraw

DeGraw comes out of the Rob Thomas school of guitar-heavy blue-eyed soul, belting this unapologetically sentimental set of big near-ballads. Problem is, he never really lets off the gas -- choruses on the slow jams buzz with as much adrenaline as those on the funked-up rockers. By the time we get to the slightly more sedate tunes like "Young Love" or "Let It Go" (neither of which can fully resist piling on guitars), the wailing is a bit exhausting. Among the bushel of potential singles, nothing has the love-at-first-listen chorus of his 2004 hit "I Don't Wanna Be."

Gavin DeGraw first hit it big with 2003's "I Don't Want to Be," an anti-fronting anthem with the
long-winded chorus "I don't want to be anything other than what I've been tryin' to be
lately." Five years later, dude's still verbose. He packs bizarre metaphors into the
faux-jazzy "Cop Stop": "I won't tell you lies/Or treat you like a rental car like other guys."
(Thankfully, there's no mention of handling his stick shift.) And on "Medicate the... More >