Inhabiting the usually perilous middle ground between all-singing, all-dancing popster and serious songwriter, former ‘American Idol’ winner – and ‘World Idol’ champ, no less – Kelly Clarkson has, to date, sold 11 million albums worldwide (aided in no small part by one of those pop singles it’s okay to like, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’).
She’s the type of songstress – see also Norah Jones and Joss Stone – who takes herself ludicrously seriously, somehow always trying to compensate for her days as a Cowell protégée by ceaselessly wittering on about boring muso stuff and penning endless lyrics about proper, like, adult relationship ‘issues’.
It’s not that her third album is particularly bad, more that rather than being anywhere near as adventurous or edgy as she thinks, it’s just another passable AOR record. Even a helping hand from legendarily righteous punk bassist Mike Watt – that’s Mike fucking Watt of Firehose, The Minutemen and part-time Stooges fame – can’t lift lead-off single ‘Never Again’ out of the middle of the road. Slowy next single ‘Sober’ (‘I’m not an alcoholic,’ Kelly stresses, ‘it’s just a metaphor’) and ‘Be Still’ sound like Bryan Adams, the cod-funky ‘Yeah’ like Lenny Kravitz and ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’ like… well, you get the picture. It’ll sell millions of course, but then so do Dan Brown’s witterings.
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3 comments
Yeah, if I were an award winning songwriter like Kelly Clarkson, I'd take myself seriously. She's written FOUR #1's and one of them is on its way up the country chart right now to again grab #1. Good songwriters, especially one that was instrumental in the success of a 12 million selling CD, should be allowed to write. “My December” is Grammy worthy, but you wouldn't know that because it appears you didn't bother to listen.
Erm, World Idol Champion? Kurt Nilsen not ringing any bells?
There are three mistakes in the first paragraph alone in this article. Makes me wonder, if you make up that much stuff, did you really even listen to the album? I don't believe anyone that can tell three lies in one really long run-on sentence. The mistakes actually spill over into the rest of the piece too. Pffft to this reviewer,no credibility whatsoever. I'll buy the album just because if he says it's not so good, it must be fantastic!!! Remember, those who can...do, those who can't...become critics. "My December" must be a "must buy."