Kelly Clarkson - "Can I Have A Kiss" (mp3)
Lately Kelly Clarkson's been going through a lot of the fallout generally associated with a recording artist putting out a follow-up to a hit that doesn't live up to expectations: feuding with label heads, firing managers, cancelling tours. Thing is, that kind of thing usually doesn't happen until after the album's actually been out and had a chance to fail, but she's cycled through all of that before the CD hit shelves, even when it was moved up a few weeks. And even though I'll follow and speculate on pre-release developments just like anyone else, I hate all the lead-up. It's the same thing with the 50 Cent album: if it's destined to fail or disappoint like everyone thinks, then let's just get it over with and actually hear the thing and decide. My big music industry fantasy is that in the next few years, labels get so sick of leaks that they give up on the whole pre-release buildup for first week sales and just dump albums into the marketplace with no minimal advance publicity. Or at least, release singles and videos less than a month before the release date, like they used to.
I think My December is a thoroughly OK album and probably as good as Breakaway, whether it lives or dies on the charts. I think "Sober" is a beautiful, really affecting song, but it also seems like a weak single and I don't necessarily look forward to hearing it outside the context of the album. The harsher rock songs like "Haunted" and "Hole" don't really work, not so much because she can pull off that darker tone, but just because her vocal performances sound kind of strained and shrill. The stuff I'm really enjoying is the midtempo tracks like "How I Feel" and "Can I Have A Kiss," both of which I think Mike Watt played on.
I don't necessarily think sparer tracks like "Be Still" and "Maybe" are great songs, but I love listening to them because I love Clarkson's voice in that breathy restrained mode, where you can actually hear her inhale and exhale between words. Though Clarkson's a belter by trade, and that's how she won Idol, what I've really always liked about her voice is the dewy tenderness on the verses. I don't find her particularly sexy (huge ass aside), not a knock against her since that's not really what she's going for, she's just too girl next door, almost sisterly. But I find her voice incredibly sexy, in an era where most of the biggest sex symbols in pop music have thin, girlish, inexpressive singing voices. And even when My December's songs are so-so (see: "Yeah"), it's full of great vocal moments (see: "Yeah"'s bridge).
Lately Kelly Clarkson's been going through a lot of the fallout generally associated with a recording artist putting out a follow-up to a hit that doesn't live up to expectations: feuding with label heads, firing managers, cancelling tours. Thing is, that kind of thing usually doesn't happen until after the album's actually been out and had a chance to fail, but she's cycled through all of that before the CD hit shelves, even when it was moved up a few weeks. And even though I'll follow and speculate on pre-release developments just like anyone else, I hate all the lead-up. It's the same thing with the 50 Cent album: if it's destined to fail or disappoint like everyone thinks, then let's just get it over with and actually hear the thing and decide. My big music industry fantasy is that in the next few years, labels get so sick of leaks that they give up on the whole pre-release buildup for first week sales and just dump albums into the marketplace with no minimal advance publicity. Or at least, release singles and videos less than a month before the release date, like they used to.
I think My December is a thoroughly OK album and probably as good as Breakaway, whether it lives or dies on the charts. I think "Sober" is a beautiful, really affecting song, but it also seems like a weak single and I don't necessarily look forward to hearing it outside the context of the album. The harsher rock songs like "Haunted" and "Hole" don't really work, not so much because she can pull off that darker tone, but just because her vocal performances sound kind of strained and shrill. The stuff I'm really enjoying is the midtempo tracks like "How I Feel" and "Can I Have A Kiss," both of which I think Mike Watt played on.
I don't necessarily think sparer tracks like "Be Still" and "Maybe" are great songs, but I love listening to them because I love Clarkson's voice in that breathy restrained mode, where you can actually hear her inhale and exhale between words. Though Clarkson's a belter by trade, and that's how she won Idol, what I've really always liked about her voice is the dewy tenderness on the verses. I don't find her particularly sexy (huge ass aside), not a knock against her since that's not really what she's going for, she's just too girl next door, almost sisterly. But I find her voice incredibly sexy, in an era where most of the biggest sex symbols in pop music have thin, girlish, inexpressive singing voices. And even when My December's songs are so-so (see: "Yeah"), it's full of great vocal moments (see: "Yeah"'s bridge).
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on Friday, June 29, 2007 at 10:18 AM.
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