I-Tunes Single of the Week Review: Andy Grammer’s ‘Miss Me’

Andy Grammer’s single, “Miss Me,” spotlighted by iTunes free single of the week is a bit of an overstatement.

The song trickles in with the simple tinkers of an unaccompanied piano quickly joined by Grammer’s classical L.A. pop star voice. Grammer begins each verse with a soft and slow four bar melody. He follows it with a quicker syncopated verse that heads up the chorus. As soon as the chorus begins, Grammer hastily belts out the lyrics in a classical tenor manner.

A similar sound comes from San Francisco’s Matt Nathanson. What differentiates the two singer-songwriters is that Nathanson’s sound tends to be oriented around his acoustic guitar, while Grammer utilizes his music training and incorporates orchestral arrangements. Two short notes from a violin queue the first chorus and can be heard behind Grammer.

As the song progresses the stringed accompaniment takes a more prominent place in the track. Throughout the bridge a brass section makes its appearance known. Bells chime in after the last chorus and throughout Grammer’s little vocal solo to finish the track with the melodramatic line that also headed the song, “I wake up and I’m sober.”

“Miss Me” appears in the middle of his first studio release, self-titled album. Matt Wallace, best known for his work with Maroon 5, produced Grammer’s album, and replicated the patented boyish charm once again. Grammer has drawn a stylized association to Adam Levine, Maroon 5’s lead vocalist, who’s enjoyed a successful and illustrious career with the pop band as well as collaborations with Kanye West and Alicia Keys. In addition to Levine, Grammer’s been compared to another pop sensation, Jason Mraz, and opened for Plain White T’s.

It is simply cookie cutter pop. This is precisely why nobody will miss him. Grammer’s approach to pop is a regulated science in L.A., and as such will undoubtedly rise to billboard success, just like his first single off the album, “Keep Your Head Up,” did. But, because there is no shortage of this caliber of music, nor an outrageous demand – except in Walgreen’s and on easy listening radio stations, this song will not have much longevity. There are enough male pop vocalists who, when weighed against the newcomer, find him wanting.