If Sweeter, Gavin DeGraw’s fourth album, proves anything, it’s that producer Ryan Tedder has some warmth buried somewhere within his icy soul.
Tedder doesn’t produce all of Sweeter -- Butch Walker, Eric Ivan Rosse, Andrew Frampton, and Ron Aniello are also on board -- but he does co-write two cuts here, as does Frampton, marking the first time DeGraw has collaborated with another writer.
It’s not much, just four songs out of ten, but it’s enough to expand and freshen his bearded blue-eyed soul, making it feel not quite so studiously stodgy.
DeGraw still has a habit of packing too many words into his phrases and then singing them too strenuously, and his sparser moments can seem skeletal, but these collaborators add colors to a formula that was beginning to get bleached out.
DeGraw could stand to be livelier and not as insistent -- he never misses an opportunity to underscore his point and has a tendency to succumb to gratingly silly novelties, as on “Candy” -- but Sweeter benefits from greater textures in his surroundings, stronger hooks in the melodies, and, for once, a sensibility that doesn’t sacrifice the present for the sake of paying respect to the past.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SweeterGavin DeGraw, Ryan Tedder | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 2 | Not Over YouGavin DeGraw, Ryan Tedder | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:38 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 3 | Run Every TimeGavin DeGraw, Andrew Frampton | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:06 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 4 | SoldierGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 5 | CandyGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 6 | You Know Where I'm AtGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:21 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 7 | StealingGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | RadiationGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 04:17 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 9 | Where You AreGavin DeGraw | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 10 | Spell It OutGavin DeGraw, Andrew Frampton | Gavin DeGraw | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 22 MB |
| 38 mins | 89 MB | |||||
| 38 mins | 260 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ron Aniello | Engineer, Guitar, Producer |
| 2 | Rich Berardi | Assistant |
| 3 | Jerrod Bettis | Bass, Guitar, Producer |
| 4 | Paul Bushnell | Bass |
| 5 | Fran Capitanelli | Guitar (Electric), Vocals (Background) |
| 6 | Smith Carlson | Engineer |
| 7 | Matt Chamberlain | Drums |
| 8 | Chris Chaney | Bass |
| 9 | Dan Chase | Keyboards, Programming |
| 10 | Sergio Chavez | Engineer |
| 11 | Gavin DeGraw | Composer, Piano, Primary Artist, Vocals (Background), Wurlitzer |
| 12 | Andrew Frampton | Composer, Mixing, Producer |
| 13 | Patrick Frasier | Photography |
| 14 | Chris Gehringer | Mastering |
| 15 | Serban Ghenea | Mixing |
| 16 | Erwin Gorostiza | Creative Director |
| 17 | David Hall | Engineer |
| 18 | Rani Hancock | A&R |
| 19 | John Hanes | Mixing Engineer |
| 20 | Heart | Grooming |
| 21 | Michelle Holme | Art Direction, Design |
| 22 | Mark Holmes | Stylist |
| 23 | Eddie Jackson | Engineer |
| 24 | Stacy Jones | Drums |
| 25 | Clif Norrell | Engineer |
| 26 | Chris Reynolds | Digital Editing, Engineer |
| 27 | Mike Rooney | Assistant |
| 28 | Eric Ivan Rosse | Arranger, Engineer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming |
| 29 | Phil Seaford | Mixing Assistant |
| 30 | Nicole Simon | Production Coordination |
| 31 | Jake Sinclair | Bass, Engineer, Vocals (Background) |
| 32 | Aaron Sterling | Drums |
| 33 | Ryan Tedder | Bass, Composer, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer, Programming, Vocals (Background) |
| 34 | Chris Unck | Vocals (Background) |
| 35 | Butch Walker | Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Mandolin, Percussion, Producer, Programming, Vocals (Background) |
| 36 | Bruce Watson | Guitar |
| 37 | Howard Willing | Bass Engineer, Drum Engineering, Piano Engineer |
| 38 | Noel Zancanella | Keyboards, Producer, Programming |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |