Gavin DeGraw: “There’s only one thing that never goes out of fashion: love”

“Was ‘Chariot’ more of a cross or more of a delight? Delight, without a shadow of a doubt. It was with that song that my career began. My life changed. For the better. And if today, twenty years later, I continue to travel the world and make records, it is only thanks to ‘Chariot’,” says Gavin DeGraw. A leap back in time twenty years. It was 2005 when European radios began to broadcast “Chariot”, a song with a piano twist that made it recognizable from the very first notes and which, after having become very popular in the USA, took little time to climb the charts even on this side of the country. Atlantic. The song talks about a boy who grew up in a small town who, after finding himself living in a large metropolis, prays for a carriage to arrive to take him home. It is sung by a young singer-songwriter: his name is Gavin DeGraw, he is 28 years old and comes from South Fallsburg, New York. He was discovered in the clubs of the Big Apple by none other than Clive Davis, the man behind the success of Whitney Houston, Santana, Patti Smith and Alicia Keys: he enlisted him for his label, J Records, he placed one of his songs ( “I don’t want to be”) in one of the most watched series in America (“One Tree Hill”) and little by little he started to build “hype” around his name, until the release of “Chariot”. It will sell millions of copies, but will never be able to repeat itself at these levels again. Twenty years later Gavin DeGraw has just released a reissue of the 2004 album, which was titled just like the hit and is on tour to promote it. Tonight he will be in Milan, on the Alcatraz stage.

Why this exercise in nostalgia?

“Because I owed it to ‘Chariot’ and the whole record. These songs are part of my story: I owe them everything. Without them I wouldn’t be here. The twentieth anniversary was the right occasion to celebrate them.”

133 million streams on Spotify, 13 million views on YouTube. Not bad for a hit released ten years before the advent of streaming. Will today’s songs stand the test of time?

“I think a lot of the stuff you hear today will have great longevity. The fact is that the standards of judgment have changed.”

What do you mean?

“I’m referring to the way things are measured. Specifically, how the success of a song is measured. The criteria have changed. And then many cases in recent years teach us that there is also music that disappears for years and then, suddenly, returns.”

Do you remember what stage of your life you were in when you wrote “Chariot”?

“I was a small-town kid from the Catskills who moved to New York in search of success. At a certain point I felt overwhelmed. Life in the metropolis was driving me crazy. I went back to my hometown for a couple of days and suddenly found a love for nature and the simple things that I had forgotten. ‘Chariot’ was exactly about that.”

In the video you played a budding singer who thought he had signed a contract with a major music label, only to discover he had been scammed. How much truth was there?

“The idea was a metaphor. I was a humble boy, growing up in a small town, who until then had written songs in his bedroom and suddenly found himself sitting at a table with men in suits and shirts talking about business and market strategies. I think it’s daunting for anyone with a background like mine.”

“I wanted to create something that was timeless rather than trendy. I was interested in developing a sound that wasn’t disposable. I didn’t want to have too much glitter on,” you explained. How much did you have to fight with the record companies to be able to impose your vision?

“There’s always a negotiation, so to speak. Every time art and business come together, business people raise their hand and say, ‘Okay, that’s all great, but how can we profit from it?’ But I was lucky, because for most of the time I was given carte blanche.”

In the reissue of “Chariot” there are also two previously unreleased songs, “Get Lost” and “Love is stronger (Alright)”. What do they have to do with the album?

“They actually date back to the ‘Chariot’ sessions. They had remained in a drawer for all these years and I thought this was the right opportunity to finally take them out, give them a second chance.”

“In current pop culture the melody is often absent, the lyrics classless and tasteless. Annoying and unnecessarily aggressive, with all that talk about weapons, drugs and violence, that fake attitude of being tough and boastful.” You said this in 2008. Does the situation seem better or worse today?

“Improved, fortunately. In the lyrics I perceive less aggression than at that moment. Maybe people had enough of that type of content and it became obsolete. Like all things that go out of fashion. The one thing that never seems to go out of fashion is love: it’s the only subject you can ever write songs about.”

Does contemporary pop seem superficial to you?

“I don’t make absolutes. There is superficial pop and pop that isn’t superficial at all. Those who talk about their desire to become famous in songs are superficial. I look for sincerity in music. The real secret to success lies here. By writing songs you have the opportunity to connect with people. You can hope to influence their life in some way, positively. Making them understand that it’s not just sun.”

Who do you like among the new generation artists?

“Ed Sheeran. Although I don’t know to what extent he can actually be considered a new generation artist. He’s very talented. And then Benson Boon.”

In 2015 you collaborated with Avicii. The topic of mental health in the music industry is no longer a taboo thanks to stories like yours. Has success threatened to overwhelm you too?

“Yes, it inevitably had an impact on my life, with all the pressures that brought. But it did so to the same extent that pressures impact those in jobs other than mine. The difference is that I have been lucky to be able to do a job that I love. I feel privileged.”

In addition to the reissue of “Chariot”, are you by any chance working on a new album of unreleased songs, three years after the last “Face the River”?

“Yes. I never stopped: I always continued to write. Maybe next year could be the right year to release the album.”