My December - Kelly Clarkson - Pandora Internet Radio

RCA Records

2007

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Kelly Clarkson

My December

About This Album

If any pop album of 2007 seemed like a sure thing, it was Kelly Clarkson's third record, My December. Kelly definitively shook off the stigma of American Idol with her second album, Breakaway, and, in particular, its smash hit "Since U Been Gone," an anthem so irresistible it was inescapable, beloved by teenage girls and hipsters alike (it even inspired a pretty good cover from oak-hearted indie hero Ted Leo). Kelly had it all: hits and some burgeoning cred, so it seemed that there was no way to screw up the next album, the one that would cement her as a rock & roll queen. Turns out, that was a large part of the problem: Clarkson wanted to be a rocker, while her benefactor, the legendary record mogul Clive Davis, wanted her to stick as a pop star, setting the stage for a massive battle that spilled over into the tabloids and blogs. Kelly wrote and recorded her album as a rock record -- getting much mileage out of PR shots of her mugging with Minuteman Mike Watt, which also helped strengthen her legitimacy as a rocker (even though all the accompanying articles suggested she didn't really know fIREHOSE from Firehouse, but to be fair, how many people do in 2007?) -- but when it came time to release it, Davis balked, allegedly claiming there were no hit singles on the record at a label conference (then playing a few cuts as proof) and then taking several not-so-veiled swipes at her during the 2007 American Idol finale. Clarkson held her ground, insisting that My December come out the way she intended, firing her management team after the fight with Davis (afterward, her first headlining arena tour was canceled, only increasing her bad press), but eventually getting the album in the stores in late June 2007.

My December proves that both camps were correct: Davis is correct that there are no big crossover hits here, yet it's also true that this is an artistic move that Clarkson needed to make. If left up to Davis, she would simply be another vocalist singing professional product -- the kind of singer AmIdol was designed to find. But Clarkson is young and moderately hip -- at least hip enough to know that she wants to sound fresher, younger than American Idol, so she needed to shake loose the shackles of the pop machine. That, combined with real-life heartbreak (her guy left her, a situation she doesn't shy away from on the album's lyrics), gave her the fuel to turn her third album into an statement of purpose. Unfortunately, what she wants to be is Evanescence -- gothic and operatic, filled with roiling emotions but few hooks. She tempers this with a few rock moves learned from Pink, but the end result is that My December is more sound than song, which is nevertheless kind of modern: although this sound is starting to show its age as Hot Topic stores are starting to shutter, it nevertheless is a very contemporary sound and suits those girls who are growing up with Kelly, following her from Idol, through college, into an uneasy adulthood. It's a soundtrack to their lives, and perhaps even more so than before, since this awkward record is the sound of Kelly negotiating adulthood, unafraid of making mistakes. Even if it's not heavy on strong songs, it ironically is the most sonically unified record Kelly has made to date: it follows through on Clarkson's vision of being a modern rocker, cutting away all the stultifying adult contemporary and replacing it with emotional acoustic ballads but relying on surging rockers. It's what Kelly wanted to do, so on that level it's a success and one that listeners who share her viewpoint (and quite likely her age) will respond to, but for everybody else, My December is a disappointment. To those like Davis, who always viewed her as nothing more than a singer -- expecting Kelly to be a pop version of Carrie Underwood and singing whatever pretty song is put in front of her -- it's a crushing disappointment because it is deliberately not a pop record. Not that it's alienating, per se -- as Kelly said prior to its release, "it's not Metallica," it's doesn't push away the listeners -- but there are no hooks, nothing to suck in the many adults who liked Clarkson's first two records. And that's not limited to the middle-Americans who turned her into the first American Idol, either: there aren't hooks for the hipsters or pop junkies who loved "Since U Been Gone" (or even "Breakaway" and "Miss Independent"), the kind of listeners who have been craving Kelly Clarkson to be a cool rock chick, since she has the pipes and spunkiness to be everybody's favorite girl-next-door rocker. But that's not what Kelly wants to be -- she wants to be Amy Lee or Pink, turning inward and writing from the heart, chronicling a turbulent time in her life. A few times, she comes up aces -- whether it's the bubbly electronics of "One Minute" that give this album some much needed spark, or the ruminative acoustic "Irvine" -- but these are hard-won, modest triumphs surrounded by over-reaching confessions that play like clichés. And that's the conundrum of Kelly Clarkson -- she's a terrific singer and a very likeable star, but she achieved her fame by just wanting to be a singer, and after she achieved fame, she wanted to be an artist by going against the very music that earned her an audience. She may retain her hardcore fans, but it's unlikely that the mass audience will follow, since she's not making music for the masses here. Nevertheless, as Simon Cowell so sagely argued, by winning Idol and turning into a star in her own right, she's earned the right to follow her gut, no matter where it leads, so she's entitled to a difficult third album like My December. The real question now is where does this road lead her? ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Continued…

Track List (try tracks 2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11)

10.

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purplepower says:

06-03-2009

Her best album EVER!!!

lucy says:

04-07-2009

haunted is good..

Sheldon Sherman says:

03-31-2009

One of the best albums ever. Period. The raw emotion and heartbreak she shares through the lyrics show a clarity that few artists have the ability (or courage) to bring to "mainstream" radio. Bravo, Kelly!

Phoenix says:

03-25-2009

this personally my favorite album.who cares what Clive Davies thinks.i'm glad went with these it has more personality then her first 2 albums did.

Jasmine says:

02-26-2009

I always like her from the first season of American Idol! ROCK ON KELLY

jacquelineda n a e s n says:

02-26-2009

awesome times forever = this album

elainemj says:

12-16-2008

this album is good

greenstonepi l o t says:

11-20-2008

Screw the haters, this album is amazing.

Mary says:

11-18-2008

i like it. its better then the other one.

je_suis_sort i e says:

10-12-2008

i don't agree with clive davis. i actually love a lot of the songs on this album. and i think it just makes it all that much better that she did what she wanted, despite what others around her said.

now she really IS miss independent.

Hippie child says:

08-07-2008

She seems a little bitter.

missygro105 says:

07-30-2008

I love how Kelly did what she wanted instead of what everyone else thought she should do. I Love this album and I hope to hear even more of Kelly's rocker girl side.

agentaddek says:

07-15-2008

I really don't know what all the hoopla about this album was. It is a terrific album, it has been playing on my iPod for the past year. It has amazing songs, with some pretty AWESOME vocals from Kelly. My personal favorites, Sober, Don't Waste Your Time, Judas, Be Still, Maybe, Yeah, Irvine, and Chivas. This is a great album you should own it and if you don't I recommend you buy it.:D

kw_2004 says:

03-08-2008

All and all it's good cd, but got too much bad publicity right before it came out smashing any chances it ever had of being as big as breakaway.

Emmuhhhhh roxanne says:

01-19-2008

SOOOOOOOO true, her newest album is way better than her first, but breakaway was actually not so bad, it wasn't very ROCK, but it was closer to a fun sound than this one. her new one is like avril on under my skin, but breakaway was closer to let go

scott1501 says:

01-16-2008

I think it is just the opposite. I think the first albums were designed to meet popular demand. She was guided by industry execs who took her in a specific direction to meet a specific demographic. Now that she has proven herself, this album is more true to her skills and talents as an artist. I LOVE the album. The edginess is really appealing and less "bubble gum". It allows her to standout as an "artist" and less like a "product".

corey10 says:

edited on 01-09-2008

Pretty cool new album. It's got a lot of rock roots to it and I especially like that. It is less poppy than her first 2 albums and is inline more with the likes of Evanescence, but not quite as hard. I wonder though whether this album is an intentional shoot off into this area or if it is purely because of trends. She either has had some change in her life to go this way (her songs definitely have harder lyrics, less about lost loves and more about inner torment), or it is because of what sells.

deleted-lilm i s s p u n k d 6 6 says:

11-23-2007

yeah i like the more rockish songs in this albaum. Her music is becoming more diverse, a plus to any growing singer (although she is pretty famous right now, eh?)

Jeff says:

11-19-2007

I like this cd. I don't care what anyone says.

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