There's a bitter (though probably unintended) irony to the title of Kelly Clarkson's fourth album, All I Ever Wanted. Her last album, 2007's My December, was the one she fought label brass to make, the one she swore was the exact kind of album she wanted to make. But All I Ever Wanted is instead the name of the follow-up compromise, made with the songwriters and producers the label wanted her to work with last time. Two years ago, she stood her ground and refused to re-record a Lindsay Lohan song (which I always thought was a little funny, considering that one of her biggest hits was an Avril Lavigne outtake), so it must be humiliating on some level that her new album features two Katy Perry castoffs, including one of the best songs, "I Do Not Hook Up."

Ultimately, though, the narrative that's developed around her career is kind of an illusion, based more on label drama than the music: if you sat down someone who's never heard Clarkson's albums and played them non-singles from Breakaway, My December and All I Ever Wanted, I don't think they'd be able to tell you which songs are from the blockbuster, which ones are from the 'difficult' album, and which ones are from the happy shiny pop comeback. There really just isn't that much of a difference, which makes all the controversy kind of ridiculous, like she and Clive Davis went through all that crap for no good reason. So yeah, this is just another Kelly Clarkson record, and it's good but not great just like the others.

"My Life Would Suck Without You" is a great pop song title in search of a great song, and it's a shame that such a barely there whisp of a song with such an annoying, underwritten hook would become the big Kelly/Dr. Luke reunion that shoots to #1. Fortunately, the rest of the album is mainly in her usual vein of slick guitar pop, mostly without the annoying donk-like drum machine beats that help make "My Life" suck. The token 'raw' rocker "Whyyawannabringmedown" is kind strained and boring. Surprisingly enough I think my favorite stuff on here is the weird vaguely retro '60s pop tracks hidden toward the end of the album, "Ready" and "I Want You." But as far as albums that come out of this particular type of 21st century assembly line, Pink's Funhouse is way more fun, more emotionally resonant and just generally better in every way.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 04, 2009 at 5:58 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.