I Remember the First Album I Ever Got

Do you remember the first album you ever got? 

For me, that album was singer songwriter Gavin DeGraw's debut studio album, Chariot. Gavin DeGraw's songwriting has captivated and inspired me. What I love about a lot of his songs as evident on this album is how down to earth they are. 

Follow Through 

The album starts out with a soft and touching love song. This song deeply touches my heart and from the first time I heard it and to this day, I consider it one of most realistic love songs I've heard. It's down to earth and meaningful with every word spoken. Heart melting lyrics of love meet soft rock elements. 

Chariot 

Known as one of DeGraw's most well-known songs, "Chariot" starts out with the upbeat prelude of a piano. It is incredibly inspiring. It's about longing for meaning and purpose and searching for that needed strength to carry us through in life. While not necessarily religious, there is also some spiritual meaning to this song. 

It's the first song I've ever heard by Gavin DeGraw and I feel the same way now that I've felt the first time I heard it.

Just Friends

This song is mellow with pieces of mild rock elements that give it a slight edge. DeGraw's singing shows passion and sincerity as he shows his feelings for someone in this song. 

Nice to Meet You (Anyway) 

Here is another song that has a lot of emotions and is genuinely relatable. Its easy-going tone is very pleasant and moving with various emotional highs and lows. It's about meeting someone, being attracted to them only to still have strong feelings for and being loyal to another. It illustrates true love, sincerity and loyalty.

Chemical Party 

While a majority of the songs on this album are upbeat and mellow, "Chemical Party" has to be the edgiest song on this album.

It starts out slow and mellow only to break out into a heavier rock edge as DeGraw gives us an image of a wild party involving chemicals (drugs and alcohol). While it's about the craziness and distraction that can be evident with these sorts of parties, I can also see it being symbolic for the distraction we face trying to fit in. 

This song is a good example that DeGraw has very much of a talent singing rock as he does more of his more mellow songs. 

Belief

Another moving and down to earth song, "Belief" begins with a soft and deeply soothing tone, picks up into a more upbeat tone, only to fall right back to one that's soft and mellow. Like quite a few songs on this album, it's about loyalty and love. More specifically, it's also about standing up for, staying true to, and believing in another person. 

Crush

This song shows what it's like to have a crush and how much that crush occupies our mind. 

While the song is soft and soothing it also includes pieces of edgy rock throughout giving the song a satisfying variety. 

I Don't Want to Be

Here we go! If you were unfamiliar with the other songs of this album, maybe you at least know this one. The song that Gavin DeGraw is most known for! It's also the theme song to the TV series One Tree Hill.

When I was in college, I took an intro to music class and one of the assignments was to pick one song, analyze it, then play it for the class to analyze as well. I chose this song. It was a very fun and interesting assignment, and I got the chance to discover new songs.

It's about staying true to yourself and what you believe in. It's the idea that there are too many people out there that want to be something more than what they were meant to be whether that be looking for fame or fortune. This song is a great and often needed reminder that we should strive to simply just be our humble selves. 

Meaning

With a blend of mellow rock and soul elements, this is such an easy-going, soothing song from this album. It's a song guaranteed to bring a smile to one's face. 

More Than Anyone

With meaningful and deeply soothing vocals, this song brings out the emotions contained in the lyrics. It's a slow love song with a lot of soul and character. 

Over-Rated

Chariot concludes with this gem of a song. It begins slow with a soothing tone before picking up to a steady mellow rock tone. It's one of those songs that gets even better as it goes on.

Wow! Listening to this album brought back so many memories! I've not listened to this album in such a long time. I've forgotten how much I enjoy Gavin DeGraw's music!