Quit Picking On Kelly Clarkson! Why “My December” is Career Defining, Not Ending
If people spent as much time buying Kelly’s album as they spent griping, whining, speculating and fueling the media fire, the girl would have gone platinum ten times over with her new album “My December” by now. I often wonder to myself if these people speculating about Miss Clarkson’s future career have even listened to her album. Clearly if they had, they wouldn’t be writing such ridiculous nonsense about Kelly’s career being finished because of her apparent, and in my opinion, much blown out of proportion disagreement with Clive Davis.
Yes we all know by now that Kelly wanted something different than Mr. Davis for her third album, but we also know that he gave her the go ahead because “My December” hit the shelves just like Kelly wanted. She’s making music videos, her songs are on the radio, and she’s on the cover of “Blender”, “Self”, “Cosmo Girl”, and “Elle” and probably a few others. We saw her perform at “Live Earth” and numerous talk show circuits. Is Kelly really doing that bad?? Is her career really “over”? Such a strong word being delivered about a woman whose vocal chops cannot be denied and likeability and fan adoration cannot be competed with. Critics, Miss Kelly isn’t going anywhere unless she wants to go there.
Listening to her album as I made dinner tonight which was turkey, green beans, and jasmine rice, I found myself singing “And he’ll be through with you” from “Never Again” passionately to my sink full of dishes and bouncing to the catchy beat of “One Minute”. I set the table to “Hole” and totally got into the funky bass line. As we ate our dinner I stopped my husband mid sentence to listen to Kelly wail on “Sober” as she sang “three months and I’m still sober” which should remind everyone, even you doomsday critics that the girl can sing. As Kelly’s album continued to play I again marveled at her as an artist. Yes, an artist. “My December” tells us a story and each song is considerably different from the last. Is there a theme to her album? Why yes there is. Have people commented that it’s just a bunch of songs about a break up? Why yes they have. But here is where Kelly is great. She is great because every song has a unique angle, beat, feel, and style. They may be songs about love gone wrong but they certainly aren’t the same emotion every time. She’s telling us in different ways so maybe, just maybe we’ll get her. Kelly is telling us a story and for some critics that is just hard to grasp,
Is it bad that her album isn’t like “Breakaway”? Is that something to be bothered about? Should she be admonished and slapped on the hand (or more like the face as of late) because she didn’t conform like some other pop “artists” today? So she didn’t recreate “Since U Been Gone” for another smash hit. She gave us something new, different, and fresh. Shame on you Kelly! How dare you give us good, raw, emotional material instead of repeats, left-overs, re-heated sheets of music, and recycled notes! Like everyone else in the whole wide world she isn’t the same person she was two years ago. She has changed. Life experience has matured her and for her to shimmy back into her “Breakaway” pants would be the real career suicide here, not her fresh new album.
As “My December” winds down, Kelly’s blaring and defining moment stands out loud and clear. The moment where she beats on the ice that has entrapped her and breaks through to take a huge gulping breath at her new level as an artist. That moment is found in her raw and heartfelt “Irvine”. Who is that broken woman singing in my ear? It’s like the moment had just happened and the recording studio came to her and caught her unawares. Truly the mark of greatness, truly the mark of an artist. Sitting in her recording studio she closed her eyes and went back to her brokenness in that Irvine, California bathroom and laid her lowest spot in her heart next to the water splashed sink. She laid it there and translated it into a breathy, haunting, career defining, not ending moment. “Irvine” is Kelly Clarkson’s platform for her to build upon. The foundation for what is to come. For when an artist is real. When they are vulnerable. When their transparency translates into an emotion painted with notes that you can see and feel, not just hear, that is when greatness is found. “Irvine” will forever be a place Miss Clarkson will look back upon and realize that just as she rose from that dark place that night, she will find herself rising again, and again, and again. This career is not over. There’s a whole lot of building going on.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
