It takes just one minute on the third record from California soft-rock group Secondhand Serenade for principal member John Vesely to start apologizing. 'I swear I'm sorry,' he sings, as guitars sparkle and fade behind him, 'please don't hate me.' That tone of penitence and isolation continues throughout the entirety of Hear Me Now, with Vesely contemplating loneliness both romantic ('Only Hope') and existential ('Is There Anybody Out There') against a backdrop of slow-rolling percussion and guitars that twinkle as gently as holiday lights. Produced mostly by the Fray's Aaron Johnson, it's serviceable but, ultimately, predictable, every song gradually building to a big crescendo where Vesely fully unfurls his keening wail. It's one thing to be sorry — but being schmaltzy is far worse.

“My President”

Young Jeezy teams up with Nas on this track, in which he compare his own success with the idea of an African-American winning the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2008 presidential election. "When I pulled up in my car, that s--- was unbelievable to people in my neighborhood because they were like, 'We grew up with him. How the hell did he accomplish this?'" he told Rolling Stone. "I feel like it was the same way with Obama. I grew up all this time, but I've never seen a black man this close to running this country."