Steve the Owl's Blog

This is a new feature here at Steve the Owl’s blog. I’ve noticed that there are people looking to add to their record collection, and they wonder where to start. They may already have some of the “classics” and want to listen to something that is not on the canon just to increase their appreciation of music.

A Tale of Two Albums

Let me tell you the story of two pop singers in the 2000′s. The first one performed standard boilerplate material, and was seen as part of the big resurgence of the overly produced pop that was in vogue at the time. For her second record, she decided to go in a new direction. While not completely going over to rock, she had more rock elements in her follow-up, and she penned a much more personal album, writing or co-writing most of the songs on the album. The record company executives were not happy, but they decided to release it anyway. To their surprise, M!ssundaztood outsold its predecessor, and opened up an artist to a new audience while maintaining the original audience. This is not that album.

Getting Personal

Most people know Kelly Clarkson as the winner of the first American Idol competition in 2002. I never watched the show, but I remember hearing one or two of her songs on Armed Forces Radio in 2003. The big thing that I noticed, which is the flaw of most pop tarts (and not surprising considering her path to fame which involved singing others’ songs as part of several themes), is that she sounded like she didn’t know who she was as an artist. By the time her second record came out, she was a bona-fide star. However, she decided to go in a different direction for her third album, My December. Rather than churn out the same sugary pop that made her famous, she decided to get personal, using the emotions of a painful breakup to fuel her songwriting.

The Backlash

This is where the story diverges from the first album mentioned. Rather than support their artist, 19 Entertainment and its label head Clive Davis instead tried to get Clarkson to change the album. She refused. Then, there was a tug-of-war between the label and the artist over whether the album should even be released. Eventually, the record was released, but the damage from the controversy had already been done. Instead of going full-throttle to promote the album, the label promptly cancelled her 2007 tour citing poor ticket sales. With no tour to generate excitement for the new album, sales were respectable, but a far cry from either of her first two records.

The Music

I am a rock guy through and through, so while I appreciate Kelly Clarkson’s vocal talents, most of her music just isn’t my taste. However, she is one of my wife’s favorites (she owns all four of her albums), so one day while we were on a long road trip, I thought I would listen. After all, I had a lot of hours to kill, and I was curious about the album Clive Davis didn’t want you to hear. From the opening bars of “Never Again” to the driving rock of “Hole” (my favorite song on the album) to her plaintive heart-rendering vocals on “Irvine,” this is an album that stays with the listener, and it was something that I was not expecting. If you’d like to listen, here is a fun YouTube fan-created video with a literal interpretation of “Hole”

Unfortunately, her fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, seems to show some fatigue with the fight with the record company, as she returned to her normal pattern of mostly power pop. So, like some of the other great one-off albums in music history, this is one to appreciate even more because it is like looking at a time capsule of a moment where something great happened. While it does not reach the level of the two most famous one-off performances in music history, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and Derek and the Dominoes, this is one that I think will stand the test of time. It will certainly be there on my next big road trip.

Tags: artist, artistic integrity, Kelly Clarkson, My December, Under-appreciated Albums

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Culture, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.