Throwback Thursday: "Hey There Delilah" Plain White T's

Amidst a sea of shawty-snappin', drum machine-crankin' hip-hop hits, the Plain White T's emerged from obscurity in the summer of 2007 to rule the Hot 100 for two weeks with the surprise smash "Hey There Delilah." This soft, intimate love song is a dreamer's manifesto, floating along on the promise of possibility and a simple acoustic guitar riff. But the undercurrent of violins offset singer Tom Higgenson with a melancholy dose of reality, suggesting that his are in fact the fantasies of a lovesick fool. By its final chords, "Delilah" reveals itself as a subversively beautiful depiction of the damages wrought by unrequited love. A-

Five years ago this week, "Hey There Delilah" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.