Regardless of whether they're addressed to a specific individual or more than one wronged person, sung apologies are tricky business. If they sound too detached, they might come across as insincere. If they're sung with too much emotion, listeners might find them overwrought. John Denver pulled off a sincere apology in the ballad, "I'm Sorry." Hothouse Flowers also recorded a song with that title, and the apology in it, set to a much faster beat, also sounds sincere.
The sung apology that has come to my mind often over the past week, although I have no idea what has triggered it so frequently, takes a different approach. Lyrically, the apology is somewhat ambivalent in the verses but more firmly planted in the chorus. Passion Pit issued a new release this month, but my mind is still stuck on the band's 2012 song, "Carried Away." It's an interesting approach, singing "I get carried away..." and "Sorry, sorry 'bout that..." to a beat that's so memorable. Because the chorus practically demands that listeners sing along, the apology goes down smoother than it would in any other arrangement. That's a neat trick for any songwriter to pull off.
