Kelly Clarkson - Stronger


The talent-show contest has rarely produced fruits as lasting as Kelly Clarkson outside of the country genre. It's been 5 albums and 9 years since the Texan shot to fame on American Idol and she's enjoyed worldwide success thanks to genuinely-great pop songs among the likes of Miss Independent, Since U Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here - aside from the rather excellent Breakaway, Clarkson, like most pop prodigies, has failed to deliver on albums. That trend doesn't look set to change.

We begin with the earworm single 'Mr. Know It All' and its typical you're-a-guy-you're-a-dickhead shtick and a remarkable semblance to Bruno Mars' Just the Way You Are. Vocals aside it's a total pastiche and when you're rechurning year-old tunes you've got a bit of a problem on your hands. Shameful. However, there's better news with 'What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)' which takes influence from her own earlier career as well as the electropop-melancholia of Robyn or Kelis. Lyrically she's again full of clichés ("doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone", "just me, myself and I"...), but it's a fine pop song.


It's not all ballsy power-anthems though: 'Dark Side' warns a lover of her potential to falter and imperfections (although the power-pop chorus would go against the start of my sentence). 'Honestly' is an emotional plea for faith and devotion that ably demonstrates Clarkson's vocal abilities. After a while though the self-flagellation begins to get irritating: 'You Love Me' continually spins out the self-deprecating metaphors after (another) awry relationship that -gasp!- suddenly turns into "you're not good enough!"

The most horrific lyrical inclusion comes courtesy of 'Einstein', though: "I know that I'm no Einstein but I know that dumb plus dumb equals you". It only marginally stands head and shoulders above the other 4-year-old grasps of love, though. The Disney channel moments continue into 'Standing In Front Of You', which is just begging for a Wizards of Waverly Place montage or something equivalent. 'I Forgive You' again carries an immediately-obvious melody and despite the attempts of a synth-riff to vary it up a bit, it's pretty safe for Clarkson (but at least solid - especially when compared to the middle-of-the-road bore 'Hello').

"I used to let you paint a pretty picture" sighs 'The War Is Over', one of the more tolerable "You don't deserve me" (her own words) tracks on account of its tune. There's some musical diversity (although don't get to hoping for a jazz-solo, it's more of a Maroon 5 track) in 'Let Me Down', one of the record's strongest vocal hooks. It seems she's most comfortable and effective on the soft-rock riffs along the lines of 'You Can't Win', perhaps asserting her independence and empowerment that little more ably, because as lovely as 'Breaking Your Own Heart' might sound by Taylor Swift, with Clarkson it just lingers damply.



So: some good songs. Some bad ones. Still, with only 6 co-writing credits out of 13 tracks you can hardly go running to the hills singing her praises, or scathingly attacking her for that matter. The nicest thing I can say about this album is that it won't be any worse than putting a Taylor Swift record under the Christmas tree for your teenage daughter - but it won't be any better than Katy Perry. At least she has some tunes.

Rating: 5/10
Highlights: Honestly, What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger), Let Me Down, The War Is Over, Dark Side
Avoid: Mr. Know It All, Einstein, Hello, Breaking Your Own Heart

Artwork Watch: Sure to do wonders for the metal-eating community around the world.

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