Stash It or Cash It?: My December–Kelly Clarkson
In my inaugural Stash It or Cash It? posting, I find it only fitting that it feature the 3rd album of the inaugural American Idol Kelly Clarkson. She was, and is, the most relatable of the American Idols. She’s in her mid-twenties and has the voice of an adult, full of power, possessed of great range and rich with heart. Her repertoire is comprised of broken-hearted, wised-up and down-to-earth songs. It’s not music to dance to–no club-bangers here, thankfully. It’s music for people to drive home from work to or to road-trip off to Santa Fe to, teary-eyed and seething from a relationship gone south. Frankly, she appeals to folks–myself included–who haven’t the energy nor desire to participate in American Idol’s democratic process.
In the interest of full disclosure I will admit to having auditioned for a season of the show but, after being politely dismissed for not being “on Jordan Sparks’ level” my indifference to Idol masks my deep-seated heartbreak. It takes a special kind of performer to prevail through the rigors of an American Idol audition. The hours upon hours of waiting for your turn to belt in front of a jaded panel of producers (and maybe a few interns). Flinching amidst the myriad Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce wannabes preparing their renditions of Dreamgirls songs. Being hungry enough to eat overpriced stadium fries and then being chastised by some skinny, cigarette-smoking Kristen Chenowith-alike for doing so (“Potatoes make your throat close!”). Needless to say, I was not on that level. However I will do my best resist the urge to indulge in sour grapes.
But I’m rambling now so I’ll cut to the chase. Over the past several years Kelly Clarkson has become a post-American Idol in the following ways:
1) She has longevity. She has managed to build a career that no longer needs the AI prefix. She’s developed a following among many non-Idolaters, thanks to her blockbuster sophomore album Breakaway and her signature hit “Since U Been Gone”. I never got around to purchasing this album because my sister owned a copy but I really enjoyed that track and “Behind These Hazel Eyes”.
2) She’s fought the good fight. Her 2007 album My December represents her shedding of the Idol brand. It’s the record that Clive Davis didn’t want her to release for fear that it would misfire and break her momentum as heat-seeking pop missile. It’s also a record that Clarkson believed in and really needed to make. Both were right even though, in my humble opinion, Clarkson was a bit more right than Davis.
In Davis’ defense, this record wasn’t exactly as commercial as her first two. My December is darker, more sullen and lacking in the requisite pop hooks of this day and age. That’s not to say that these songs are bad. They’re perfectly fine; they’re just…different. And Davis, like any record producer–legendary or not–is concerned more about hits than artistic growth and development. Who has time to nurture an artist’s whims in the New Millennium? But in Clarkson’s defense,there’s hardly any point in winning America’s heart on national television (and enduring the barbs of some tart-tongued British poove) if you can’t live a little. Okay…money’s a good perk but I’m a romantic; money isn’t everything. Shouldn’t the fruits of her labor include the freedom to record the bizarre yet enjoyable “Yeah”, the slightly clumsy “Maybe” or the home-recorded whisky-fueled lament “Chivas” (which I love to pieces–both the scotch and the song)?
3) Kelly Clarkson has talent…and balls. Of late, she’s embroiled in yet another controversy involving her latest album All I Ever Wanted. Her gripe this time is concerning her latest single “Already Gone” and its striking similarity to a maudlin Beyonce tune “Halo”. Coincidence? Who can say? Both songs were written by Ryan Tedder, one among several Tunemakers Du Jour. To my ears, Tedder cannibalized himself, collected his Kelly Clarkson check and kept it moving. But what do I know? While this latest Clarkson scuffle strikes me as a bit of over-concern for her image (though I do believe she has a valid point) her fans won’t be swayed by any of this song-squabbling. In fact, people will hone in on what’s most important–her powerhouse pipes. This girl can sing like no one’s business and she’s got heart. And to me, her remarkable gift is no more evident than on her unloved yet lovable My December. This one is a Stash-It.
Favorite Tracks: “Never Again”, “One Minute”, “Sober”, “Irvine” and the wait-for-it-after Track 13 bonus song “Chivas”
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