Kelly Clarkson's Turmoil: My December

KELLY CLARKSON: MY DECEMBER

SCORE: 73/100 - 7.3

Maybe I just don't get the massive praise for Kelly Clarkson - maybe I never will. 

Sure I've seen her put on some amazing vocal performances, but one of the "best vocalists of all time" with an album where the vocals are the weakest part of the album? Really? Clarkson's vocals on this album weigh it down so hard, and although she sings very well on the slower ballads like 'Sober', her vocals aren't anything striking almost at all a huge majority of the time. Her high notes are very impressive - but just being able to hit some high notes doesn't make it so that you have an enjoyable vocal register all of the time.

Much more pop rock than what I might have expected, and although her vocals are surprisingly a bit weak on this project, the production shines enough to stop it from being an entirely boring venture into her discography. 

'My December' came out of Clarkson's personal and career-related struggles, marking the lowest period for her and her writing and belting being used as "free therapy" for the singer/songwriter. It's very expected in terms of sound when it comes to mid-late 2000's pop rock, but it's a slightly unexpected rock diva-esque sound for Kelly, which I wasn't entirely expecting to be done to this degree. The song's aren't much of anything when compared to other artists, but the production here is enjoyable enough as just about anything with this sound will be some degree of enjoyable. 

Pressure from her record label led to even more turmoil for this album, but Clarkson was set on taking the reigns for the album and making it her own - which did lead to a bit of a shaky project; it's a good album, but there are moments where it just doesn't feel like I had hoped - and maybe Kelly Clarkson just isn't an artist for me personally. The rockiness of this album is heightened by the sheer amount and volume of issues that came with it, and although the formula for this album is good - it feels like there are missing pieces that don't allow for it to shine completely. Songs like 'Never Again' and 'Hole' are particularly striking once they really kick off, but even then, none of the material here is particularly memorable.

Clarkson seemed to know what she wanted to be, all while not knowing at all what direction to go into for this album. It hops and leaps into different sounds, making for an inconsistent, yet mildly enjoyable album that is truly a mixed bag. It's hard to put together compositions when I truly don't know how I feel - and I think that this is a project that I won't see myself coming back to any time soon. There are some great moments here, but even those aren't interesting enough to make this album something that is even worth remembering - that is if you're even able to remember it at all. 

It's truly hard to write about something that I have such divided feelings on - in one hand it's a boring album with lackluster elements and a standard format that runs for way too long, but on the other hand it's a very solid album that does come close to the sound I had been looking for. It isn't perfect by any means - but it does what it needs to and shows off some massive vulnerability on Clarkson's end, improving as the album goes along and redeeming itself at every turn. Her vocals improve and become significantly more impressive midway through the album, and there is a newfound sense of consistency later on within the album that makes it much more worthwhile. 

She shows some high moments and improves significantly vocally after 'Sober', and it seems like just one push of a ballad button made the rest of the album feel much better than it's earlier segments. It's not the best album within the genre by any means, but there's nothing truly bad or unsavoury about it, either. Later into this I found myself really enjoying it a lot more - but I'm still hugely divided on the fuss about Clarkson. There are similarities in style to P!nk within this album, and although it takes another nosedive in it's final lap, this album is okay enough to be worth it.