Gavin DeGraw Finds Sweetness In "Sweeter"

Proving to be at the top of his game, Gavin DeGraw returns with a new video for "Sweeter," the second single and title track from DeGraw's fourth, and most recent album. If this new album proves anything, it's that producer Ryan Tedder has some warmth buried somewhere within his icy soul, but it's enough to expand and freshen his bearded blue-eyed soul, making it feel not quite so studiously stodgy.
"Sweeter," has a pop-funk kind of vibe, which DeGraw thought was a great way to kick off the album. The chugging guitar and piano combination provides the track with real drive, and when you add DeGraw's strong and soulful vocals on top, it all makes for a purposeful opening. The song finds DeGraw fantasizing about another guy's girl. He told Billboard magazine many of the songs on the album "ride the vulnerability spot." While experimenting with new sounds, it resulted in a "potent, swaggering strut, both musically and lyrically, on sexually charged songs like the R&B-infused "Sweeter."
The 35-year-old singer had to balance up writing about emotion and hoping to get "a reaction from the female listener" without chasing the men away. "There is always that risk and trying to get that correct is a fine line. Some people will hate you for sounding vulnerable at all, so you can't win 'em all, right? You have to accept that stuff... The things that make writing challenging are things that make it the most enjoyable," DeGraw talking to Billboard about the song.
DeGraw also told VH1 News that the Lenny Bass-directed clip is about a girl being "Under-appreciated by her man. She decides she's going to get out of the place and grab me on her way out." It features Sports Illustrated model Genevieve Morton. It begins in a bar setting where DeGraw woos Morton away from a less than enthusiastic boyfriend. Fortunately, he fares a little better and gets the girl, and they take off on an afternoon adventure together, and speed off in her Mini-Cooper. They end up at a seedy motel, rolling around on a bed while Morton ends up blindfolded in black lingerie.