Are you TRYING to kill me with your adorable puppy dog eyes and your pea coats? That's what we call a cheap shot, boys. Yes, I could watch this video on mute and still be sold on the men of Parachute...

While frontman Will Anderson can clearly play me like a fiddle, Parachute's heartfelt, melody-driven pop-rock has an even broader appeal. The guys (four of the five are high school buddies) released their debut album, Losing Sleep, in May, with production by John Shanks, who boasts Bon Jovi and Stevie Nicks credits.

Perhaps you saw the Virginia natives perform alongside Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift in Times Square for New Year's Eve -- hey, maybe they even diluted some of that post break-up tension? -- but if Parachute is still news to you, check out the video for the group's first single, "She Is Love," below.

It's a solid indie-pop ballad (pay attention, Matt White fans); and while the video had potential to be painfully corny, Will's earnest performance pulls it all off -- or maybe it's just that pea coat. Sigh...

And that is: Guys who look like Matt White are not usually seen riding the bus in New York City. As someone who's taken the bus a LOT (ain't too proud!), I've RARELY seen dudes like him on that thing. Though once I did see Gilbert Godfried on the M9 once. Weird, right?

Anyhews, Michael Buble fans, check out Matt White's quasi-political breezy bus ballad, "Love," (it feels like the male version of Sara Bareilles' "Bottle It Up"), marvel over that Jonas-esque bouffant, and reawaken that dormant Artist of the Week crush you had on him at the beginning of 2008.

Singer-songwriter Matt White's voice is so damn angelic that he could easily double as God's personal troubadour. The 28-year-old classically trained musician sounds like a cross between two of his inspirations: John Mayer -- to whom comparisons are also unavoidable -- and Jeff Buckley. And Matt, who grew up in a family of musicians in north New Jersey, actually saw the late artist perform live back in the day.

A guy who writes loves songs, sings like a meadowlark and has seen Jeff Buckley in concert? Paint us intrigued. And then it turns out he also looks like James Dean reincarnated.

Yet even raw talent and -- let's be real here, total hotness -- don't usually score one a record deal overnight. Not unlike Jeff Buckley himself, Matt did major time on the small-club circuit in New York City (in some of the same clubs Buckley toiled in), sometimes busking for bills in Washington Square Park. And he also logged serious hours online, garnering a rapt and eager fan base (both predominantly and unsurprisingly female) on MySpace.

Eventually a winning combination of tenacity, good fortune, and the kind of writing chops that produce pitch-perfect alt-pop songs -- the melodic, cinematic, heartfelt and honest types -- and attract music supervisors for shows like One Tree Hill and The Hills (perhaps you've heard of this?) paid off. After landing a spot on Geffen's roster, earning a place Rolling Stone's "10 Artists to Watch" list, scoring a single on the Shrek the Third soundtrack, and logging well over 100 live shows in 2006 alone, Matt upgraded from playing subway stations to playing gigs for fans whose intended destinations are the bigger clubs he's now headlining -- not just the next stop on the A train.

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