Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this album takes listeners full circle through the ups and downs of romantic relationships. Although passion, desire, and even lust are explored, the album's lyrics stay rather tame. The song "Medicate the Kids" looks down on over medicating kids for behavioral issues.
Families can talk about how TV can help promote musicians. DeGraw came into the national spotlight after his song "I Don't Want To Be" was picked as the theme song for the series One Tree Hill. Do you think having a song that's played a lot on TV helps an artist become popular? Can you think of any other times when a musician or band has become popular because of a show?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Jacqueline Rupp
Gavin DeGraw is a burgeoning singer-songwriter whose third album is a little bit country and a little rock 'n' roll, with a whole lot of sensitive crooning. While the album of 11 songs is filled with sweet love songs, there are also a few songs that veer off into rougher territory.
DeGraw is a singer of many moods. He can be soulful and vulnerable, but he can be audaciously seductive on tracks such as "Next to Me." His songwriting isn't the most complex nor the most subtle, with lines like "Wishing wells were made to echo a dime/the consequences are you keep on relying/you've become a run and hide refugee/baby I'm a cop, stop, put up your hands and surrender to me." DeGraw is at his best when he's the good-guy singing about good feelings ("I'm In Love With a Girl") or on off-beat songs that don't talk about love or sex, such as "Medicate the Kids" a song about the over-use of prescription drugs to remedy childhood behavior problems. No doubt, his easy-to-listen-to blend of rock and pop and mix of brash sexuality and sensitivity will surely appeal to many girls.
For more feel-good singer-songwriters, try Sara Bareilles or Jack Johnson.
Reviewed: 05/12/2008
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Sexual ContentMost of the songs on the album are seductive in nature, although not all that graphic. The most explicit content are lyrics like "She knows how to treat a fella right/give me that feeling every night/wants to make love when I wanna fight/now someone understand me/I'm in love with a girl." |
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Social BehaviorThe majority of the songs are sultry tracks about romance. On some of these songs, such as "Next to Me" and "Cop Stop" DeGraw lyrically attempts to seduce women or overpower them (either mentally or emotionally) until they give into his advances. |
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Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco"Next to Me" includes the lyrics like "You wanna get high and they don't/so I had a drink posed to help me think/now you say I've been drinkin' too much." The song "Medicate the Kids" also deals with the topic of behavior medication for kids. |
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