RSSKelly Clarkson Comes Back Like a Bat Out of Hell
Mar 10
Music Album Reviews, American Idol Comments Off
I didn’t like My Life Would Suck Without You when it hit the radio waves last month. It sounded like a songwriter wrote the tagline first and then fashioned the rest of the song around it. I’m sure a lot of songs start this way, but somehow most artists find a melody in there somewhere.
But all of Kelly Clarkson’s new album All I Ever Wanted could be described that way. Overproduced is an understatement on this album. Song after song has been given Meat Loaf-sized production, which swallows up Clarkson’s angelic vocals and any hint of a melody. There’s nothing soft about the track Cry with its forlorn lyrics “If anyone asks, I’ll tell them we just grew apart…Is this what it feels like to really cry?” It sounds like Clarkson is shouting the chorus at you instead of singing it.
The formula does work occasionally. The title track, All I Ever Wanted, is toned down without losing its pop sensibility. In fact, the middle part of the album is where Clarkson finds her stride. Already Gone is my favorite track on the new album. Anchored by an uncomplicated drum beat, and a discernible melody, the tracks hangs on to a simple message “I want you to move on, so I’m already gone.” Ironically, I could see this track for its fantastic club potential.
But the rest are already juiced to the max. It’s hard to imagine what a remix could do to make them any worse. Another track just off the beaten path, almost, is Long Shot and it works because the song finds Clarkson’s voice somewhere in the mix. The other notable exception is I Want You, buried at the album’s end, which is a stark sonic departure from the rest. It sounds like Clarkson’s take on a Go-Go’s track and it’s a breath of fresh air on an otherwise congested album.
All I Ever Wanted is crowded and unnecessarily complicated even for a pop album. Clarkson’s considerable vocal talents are hidden away in the name of mainstream tastes, which is too bad because it was her vocals that sold her to America in the first place. And I still don’t like My Life Would Suck Without You even one bit.
