ALBUM REVIEWS

Album reviews | A meaner, rougher Kelly Clarkson scores

BY HOWARD COHEN

[email protected]

• ROCK

KELLY CLARKSON

My December

RCA/19 Recordings

***

Label executive Clive Davis and some of Kelly Clarkson's fair weather fans should have seen it coming. Clarkson did call her first post-American Idol smash Miss Independent, after all.

But that hint of a strong-willed personality wasn't enough to quell the controversy that erupted after Clarkson clashed with Davis over the direction of My December, her delayed third album. Breakaway, the predecessor, shipped 6 million copies and Davis wanted his star act to work again with the same pop songwriters who helped that CD and its hit single Since U Been Gone score.

But Clarkson had other ideas beyond cashing in with a pandering Breakaway II. She stood her ground, insisting on releasing the angry, darker rock record she cowrote. The camps split, with fans on one side applauding Clarkson's cheek while others are branding her a brat.

That's a lot of baggage for a pop record to endure before it even sees release, but the resulting My December is easily the boldest and most personal album to come out of the cookie-cutter Idol factory.

My December is also nowhere near the massive departure the hype suggested. The songs have hooks and rock tempos not unlike that of Since U Been Gone. The 13 tracks just aren't quite so obviously aimed at Top 40 radio, but nothing is inaccessible.

''I could crash and burn but maybe / At the end of the road I might catch a glimpse of me / So I won't worry about my timing / I might get it right,'' Clarkson sings on the album highlight, the moody Sober.

Barring a little overlength and redundancy, the singer-songwriter gets it mostly right on My December. Clarkson's previous albums were best cherry-picked for the singles and lacked focus and a distinct artistic stamp. My December gives her the focus she has always needed and it's her finest overall work.

Curiously, though, for a woman who has given interviews claiming she has never been in love, she's certainly investing a lot of passionate energy on My December's brace of bitter, breakup songs. Vocally, she flexes her inner Pat Benatar to slay some cheat on Never Again. (''I hope the ring you gave her turns her finger green.'') On Judas, she melds metal and electronics to mourn over someone who disappointed her (Davis, perhaps?) ``After we'd been through so much, how could you let me down?''

Despite the bile, Clarkson never sinks to crudity. On the sparse closing ballad, Irvine, she finds her most intimate side. One Minute is among her most danceable songs.

''I'm stubborn and I make plenty of mistakes,'' Clarkson confesses on Maybe. Naysayers will seize on that line when My December fails to sell 6 million copies, but so what? Clarkson expressed herself and grew, that's what artists do, and for that she should be championed. That My December isn't the train wreck some wished for is even more gratifying.

Pod Picks:Sober, Judas, One Minute.

THE WHITE STRIPES

Icky Thump

Third Man/Warner Bros.

Today, I bought Kelly's latest CD, My December. I was bummed out when I was told by the salesperson that they seemed out of stock. They had them this week, he remember seeing Kelly's latest CDs. We looked and looked in every "nook and cranny" of the music CD section of Walmart's, but there's no My December.

As we were paying at the cashier's station and she was almost done ringing my purchases, I noticed Kelly's CD right in front of my face. I got so excited! "It's right here!" They only had two left and I got one of them.

I previously listened to the songs via the Leak MTV, and I should say the songs were not too shabby. I will admit that when I first heard Never Again, I did not really care for it because it just sounded like Since You've Been Gone. When I want to buy another CD, I do not like the songs to sound the same as the previous album... Sequels most of the time get boring and unteresting. However, when I keep on hearing Never Again and started to remember some of the lyrics, I started liking it.

When I got to listen to all the songs, I was very impressed. I like Judas the most. I love the melody. I have not really listened to the lyrics as I did not have the time. When I tried to check again at MTV's website, the Leak page was gone. I also like Irvine. I can't wait to listen to all the songs again and again. That's really how I would know if the songs grab me when I keep on listening to them.

In Kelly's first CD Thankful, I thought I would not like the rest of the songs. But I love the song The Trouble With Love Is, especially when I heard it played as a theme song of the movie Love Actually. The movie is sort of sad and Kelly's song fit the characters in the movie. I loved it. Ever since, I love listening to it. It helps a lot when the singer has a great powerful voice. You want to listen more. Kelly has that and more. I never thought I would like Low and I also love listening to it. The other songs are great, too. I'm reserving listening to them again for later. I don't get tired listening to Kelly's voice. She has a powerhouse of a voice and full of emotions.

I'm expecting the same discoveries when I start listening to My December. They don't sound the same as the other songs in her 2 CD's except Never Again. Now that I know that they are not copycats, I know I will enjoy listening to them as time goes by. Kelly has that voice you won't get tired of. I could listen to the songs she performed on American Idol over and over again until now and watch them on my Real Player on the internet, and I still want to hear them again.

Kelly has a unique voice all her own. Her emotions always come through especially when she sings slower tunes. She's different from the rest of the pack, if you know what I mean.

Kudos Kelly!!!