Kelly Clarkson’s CD Available Already on the Internet?
June 19, 2007 by Jeanne
Reports are saying that American Idol champ, Kelly Clarkson’s, new album “My December” is available on the internet. I must have been under a rock because I had not heard it. Well, this is the first review I have found. It’s from Fox News (ugh, take with a grain of salt) and it is interesting. Read it, after the jump!
More than a week before its scheduled release, Kelly Clarkson’s controversial album, “My December,” is available all over the Internet.
I downloaded it quickly last Friday and have been listening to it ever since — not necessarily because it’s so good, but to evaluate its inherent oddness.
“My December,” you see, as has been discussed now in this column and other places, is not what you’d expect from the winner of “American Idol.”
That can be a good thing and a bad thing. We all applaud ambitious moves, and Clarkson certainly wants to spread her wings. Her famous quote now is that the songs are by her and about her. She says something to the effect of “pardon me if my life bores you.”
Clarkson, however, is not a very experienced lyricist. So the pain she is trying to convey on “My December” is often not very effectively rendered. Unlike confessional songwriters like Carly Simon or even Alanis Morissette, Clarkson doesn’t have a grasp of metaphor. She is more of an in-your-face songwriter. She also doesn’t know when to stop beating a dead horse.
The result is a very mixed bag. The music on “My December” was supposedly written by members of her band. Some of it isn’t bad. A couple of tracks, “Yeah” and “Don’t Waste Your Time,” stand out as memorable rockers with decent hooks. “Be Still” is an effective ballad. But the lyrics, especially on “Time,” deteriorate pretty quickly into an accusatory tone that permeates the album.
It’s not that I’m unsympathetic. Clarkson obviously was in a bad relationship with an abusive alcoholic. We get it; it’s all over the album, from “Sober” to “Chivas.” In “Yeah,” which is saved by the band, she warbles: “I know where I’ve loved somebody more than what you’ll give to me.”
It’s clear she’s mad, bitter and resentful. But a lot of it seems like high school whining. Isn’t art supposed to be about something more than this?
With “December” already downloading, Clarkson and her record label, RCA, have some obvious problems. But even worse for Clarkson is the news that her tour has been cancelled right on the heels of her firing manager Jeff Kwatinetz.
I still think that RCA will add a couple of tracks to “My December” in a second edition early in the fall. A real hit should emerge then, followed by a tour. But what a long way around to do something fairly simple.
By: Roger Friedman for Fox News
Tags: american idol, kelly clarkson, my december, review, fox news
