Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted

When I first heard My Life Would Suck Without You, it's like I was brought back to 2004/2005 when Since You've Been Gone was the biggest thing since anything and I suddenly got excited about Kelly Clarkson again. The lead-up to my first listen of the album was filled with listening to the two songs that had leaked, her number one single and the much disputed track, The Day We Fell Apart. I was expecting nothing less than brilliance.

What did I get? A confused, generic and just plain mediocre album. The songs have no cohesion, one minute she's pop/rock, the next she's bubblegum pop and what makes it worse is that I've heard this all before, all the songs sound like some other hit song from 2003-2006.

Don't Let Me Stop You sounds like an Everlife or Superchic[k] song they'd put in a Disney movie and Already Gone reminds me of a more modern, lighter Paula Cole song. The start of If I Can't Have You reminds me of Natalie Bassingthwaighte's Catch Me If You Can while Save You sounds like a Snow Patrol/The Fray song. Ready sounds like a Kelly-ized Sara Bareilles song and I Want You reminds me of a Mandy Moore Wild Hope-era song

The songs themselves as just songs are gorgeous, the melodies and the instrumentals are brilliant but this is supposed to be an album, not just a bunch of random songs thrown together haphazardly.

To sum it all up, nothing, no matter how hard Kelly Clarkson and her production team tries will ever match the glory of Breakaway, nothing. Breakaway was in a league of it's own, it defined a generation and All I Ever Wanted will forever be the album that tried so desperately to revive Breakaway's glory.

SO, to sum up the album:
Best Track: I Do Not Hook Up
Better Tracks: Save You, Don't Let Me Stop You
Least Favorite Track: If No One Will Listen
THE RATING: 3.5/5, for being confused and mediocre

The return of fun.

That boyband love songs post will come, I just have to get my head around making it. While waiting, lemme just write some thoughts down.

I know I'm not the first to notice but I thought I'd say it anyway, pop is certainly coming back this year. It took me a few more listens to convince myself that it's real but I'm delighted by the return of fun, perky and upbeat pop songs amidst all those I-Hate-Your-Guts rock or heavy R&B stuff that had been coming out. Even with the deteriorating record sales and piracy all over the place, the return of pop will make me want to go out and buy albums even more now.

It feels like 2005 again (of course I don't really know what 2005 felt like music-wise but by the albums and the songs from 2005 that I've heard, it was a pretty good year for pop.) or even 2006.

Pop may never be like what it was five, six years ago but I can confidently say that it's getting somewhere thanks to the acts who stuck by the label during the 'down period' so to say and yes, even Disney. I wouldn't say 2008 was a bad year for pop, but I do think that there was very little of it reaching mainstream audiences but this year is different, I just know it.

Kelly Clarkson's now number one single is perky, fun American pop. Of course it's not the BSB/90's pop but it's something that when you hear it, you know it's American. It's a characteristic American song and even though I think that nothing will come close to Since You've Been Gone, this is pretty close. It's SYBG but not.

Corbin Bleu's Moments That Matter made me smile when I first heard it, and I think that's something important in a pop song, it has to somehow make the listeners happy, not just because the song is brilliant but because it's happy and it's perky and it's worth smiling for, worth supporting.

The Saturdays' Comic Relief single is fun, it's a song I want to play over and over again but I don't get sick of. Nearly 60 plays already and I'm still listening to it, it's infectious, it sticks to my head and it's brilliant. As much as I love the GA+ Sugababes Comic Relief thing, it just wasn't fun for me. I loved the Boyzone song and obviously the Westlife one because they were fun, they were uptempos with actual melodies and they sold a heck of a lot for charity.

In comes Tania Christopher, who has brilliantly made 2009's Forever. Like all the other songs I've mentioned, it's fun but what sets it apart is its obvious mainstream sound. R&B is obviously a big thing in the US and although I absolutely adore the genre, it can get repetitive. You have all these generic Usher/Beyonce wannabes coming and going with all these mediocre songs. Once in a while though, someone with all the right things shows up with the right song and blows us away. I think Tania is just that.

The song that inspired this post is the new offering from Mandy Moore's upcoming album. With the demise of perky pop, her 2007 album sounded like a bland Lily Allen without the tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Don't get me wrong, the songs were gorgeous but I feel like she went from this late 90's/early 2000's pop princess to a bland "folk" singer. I Could Break Your Heart Any Day Of The Week is close to what I thought she'd be doing in 2007, and I sure as hell am glad that she's doing it now. I do hope she gets the chart success she deserves, the song is brilliant.

I believe that pop songs are songs that make you want to turn the volume up and be happy, carefree and not think for those three minutes(or more..) and these songs just prove my point.

PBA095n3132p

Looking ahead...

I said that 2009 would be an amazing year for music and quite a number of new albums have been released now even more new songs are slowly circulating so what's in store for the pop scene over the next few months? Here are some artists who've given us a little taste of what's to come(and a few who haven't.).

• A bonus track off Kelly Clarkson's new album has leaked and although some people are speculating that it's not really her, I do think it's her. It sounds like her and the song is just divine so even if it isn't, I'd like to know who it is! haha. If this is what we're getting(plus some demos by other artists have also surfaced, haven't heard them yet..) in the full-length album then my calendar will have a big, fat red mark on the release date! haha.
• Marie Serneholt's Melodifestivalen song is not bad but as long as I have an I Need A House-esque track on it, I'm happy.
• This year's Comic Relief single(which I'm getting really addicted to.. it's brilliantly catchy!) was secured by The Saturdays and it's everywhere already! Late last year Digital Spy bashed all hopes of getting a re-release of their debut album(I'm too lazy to look for the article but I will). I do think they need a few original albums just to plant their existence firmly into people's minds. Maybe on their third or fourth albums they can do a re-release but now's not the time. I wonder what's in store for them this year, after the Comic Relief thing.
• Fight For Love is the reported first single from Elliot Yamin's second album(rumored to also be called Fight For Love) and along with that a few rumors have come up that he's teaming up with Stargate and even Diane Warren(she can write one heck of a ballad..) for the album. I do like the two songs out now, so will be following the development of this. haha.
• Also rumored are the follow-up singles from Lily Allen's new album. Apparently they're Not Fair and Back To The Start.. hmm.
• Armed with a mind-blowing voice(which sounds a lot like JoJo), a Stargate-produced lead single whose video was directed by the guy who brought us the videos to Rihanna's monster singles Unfaithful, We Ride, Disturbia and Take A Bow, Beyonce's Irreplaceable and heaps more, Bayje better come up with that album soon. It's been at least a year since I've heard of her and the tracks on her Myspace are brilliant so this is definitely one of the albums I'm anticipating the most this year.
• It's been three years since her last album and JoJo hasn't given us anything, nothing, not even a little taste of what her new album's gonna sound like. I'm not angry or anything but I've been waiting three years for an album from the girl who started my music addiction and I'm really, really excited! After a label change, early last year rumors were that the album would be out in time for her 18th birthday but apparently, All I Want Is Everything will be out this year instead. Oh, and her website's being revamped..
• Lady Sovereign's new album is apparently coming out this year. I love her drastic but not change in sound and her new grown up image, it's working! I Got You Dancing was like a Ting Tings song(although not as good..), annoyingly awesome, it was stuck in my head for weeks, it still is! The follow-up single is So Human and although I prefer the first one, it's a nice preview of the album! yay!
• Just when I was thinking of what happened to Keke Palmer, wiki is saying that Sony has apparently signed her and the album is scheduled for a spring release. Hmm(when's spring, btw? don't blame me, we only have two seasons here!), no new singles out yet? tsk. tsk. They better have this really huge PR campaign if they want the album to sell..
• So I'm guessing that because of the Rihanna incident, Chris Brown's career has come to a screeching halt. Radio stations have pulled out his songs from their playlists, his ad campaigns have been suspended and the Sesame Street episode he did won't be shown again, ever. I feel sorry for his career, it's come a long way but he is going to court for beating Rihanna up so it's both their careers down the drain for now(at least.. Rihanna may be able to bounce back faster than him..). I'm also guessing that there won't be any new releases from him(or her..), at least this year if he can get his act together quick enough for people to not loose interest in him and not go crazy or something. Shame, he was starting to get close to Craig David in my books.

There's tons more new stuff to talk about so a part two might follow! haha.

I'M BAAACK!

OK, so I said I'd take a week break but I actually just slowed down on the posting. This was a happy week for me music-wise(DO NOT ask about how my Math 8A and 8G exams were, DO NOT.), mainly because of quite a few new stuff I've discovered and some old sought-after albums finally found. hmm..

• I know I ranted about RedOne recently but I can't help myself, their new song is AMAZING. I'm dead serious. I know the formula is too obvious and repetitive and they can't manipulate it well yet but it's a pretty darn good formula. Jada's American Cowboy is actually quite good, but the title kinda sucks. Oh, and the girls kind of sound like Lady GaGa as well during some parts.
• Speaking of Lady GaGa, I heard somewhere that her next single is Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) but only in Australia and New Zealand. Hmmm. I do like the song. haha.
• There's a new Leona unreleased track out called Stay, and it sounds a lot like a song someone from the Natalie generation would put on an album. You know, the piano-backed R&B ballad plus the thin, airy voices? Yeah. It doesn't actually go anywhere but the melody's nice. Nothing special or ground-breaking though.
• I'm now officially addicted to a Liberty X song, No Clouds. Not in the 'I like it, it's good' then I won't listen to it for the next few months kind of way, I ADORE IT. And it's all I've been playing today(OK, maybe not but it sure seemed like that!) but I haven't gotten sick of it. It's pop, I think that's the best way to describe it. Think a less sanitized Same Difference plus an early 2000's R&B girl group song. BUT, the melody's so addictive that I was actually singing it after like 2 plays. Will have to review it sometime this weekend.
• There's a new Lady Sovereign song out and may I say, I'm liking her new image much more than her old one. She's like Lily Allen mixed with Lady GaGa, at least that's what So Human is telling me.
• Calvin Goldspink, yes Calvin from S Club 8, posted a couple of songs on his MySpace and I'm loving them! I must say though, he sounds nothing like he used to(as if I actually heard him.. OK I did but it's just an excuse 'coz I kind of forgot what he sounded like during the I Dream era..) and the songs are amazing! Think an edgier sounding, smoother-voiced James Morrison.
• I'm addicted to another of these Chris Brown unreleased stuff, Takes Time. It's very commercial, I can imagine it on the ad for some kind of family-related product. I don't know, I think. haha. I love the melody though, even if the song itself is kind of short(2 minutes?).
• I've got a hold on a not so good copy of the Spectacular! soundtrack, am listening to it at the moment and I'm liking what I'm hearing. Will review it this weekend.
• I know it's all over the place but Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You has a video AND is number one in the US! Yay! I think that they're trying too much to re-create Since You've Been Gone with the video and all(look at it, it looks almost exactly like SYBG!), but it's something they'll never, ever, NEVER be able to do. Since You've Been Gone defined the generation and although I do think that this is a brilliant song, it's not as good.

Hmm.. I guess that's it, will get to the reviews now! haha.

New Music!

Apologies for the lack of posting yesterday, I was recording a song! haha. Then I had to splice everything and *gasp* double track some of my friends' vocals(I know I diss it and all but it does sound a lot better! haha.) but anyway, here's what I've been listening to for the past few days..

• I still haven't whipped up my review of the Kelly Clarkson single! I'm banging it into my friends' heads already but I STILL haven't written anything about it. I better do soon, before I hear it everywhere here and I start hating it. tsk. tsk.
• My dad got me re-addicted to Paula Cole. I'm listening to Amen right now, and I'm loving it! Very adult contemporary, like a heavier and less pop Sara Bareilles(I LOVE her as well, don't get me wrong!) but amazing as well!
• After seeing it all over the place last year but not actually listening to it, I finally got my hands on Christina Milian's Us Against The World and it's absolute brilliance! I'm kicking myself over and over again for not bothering to listen to this sooner. WHY? I love the chorus, it's heavy but not.
• There's a new Michael Johns and Brooke White song, and I love it! One because we haven't heard any new material from either of them and two because the song is actually quite cool. It fits both of them but I'd like to see Michael do something reminiscent of his We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions performance. Still, the song fits both of them well, more so Brooke.
• We finally have Natalie Bassingthwaighte's new single in HQ! For weeks I've been having to put up with a YouTube rip but yay for the HQ! I'm re-loving the song as well, I got a bit sick of it a few weeks ago but the HQ just changed everything! Definitely somewhere near a hit. haha.
• Speaking of HQ versions, there's this Facebook group going around to petition releasing GA's Memory of You in HQ and not on vinyl so if you're on Facebook, hunt it down and join! I so want to hear it in HQ that it's killing me just listening to the vinyl rip!
• Am still addicted to the White Tie Affair. I'm soaking all of it in before they get big here and I start absolutely despising them because they're actually very, very, very, very good. Duh. haha.
• Well Kerli has a cute new video out for Creepshow. I love the animation and the song's OK, nothing special and not as good as Love Is Dead or Walking On Air.

Ugh. That's it? I'm so annoyed with the lack of new music. Where're all the amazing albums and new songs we've been promised this year? They better come up with a good excuse for not releasing them now! haha.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

The. New. Kelly. Clarkson. Song. Is. AMAZING.

It's like an even poppier Since You've Been Gone!

Will review the whole thing sometime later this week, I just wanna keep listening to it's brilliance! ah-mazing!

YESSSSSS!!!!!!

I came home from school today and guess what just leaked?(you probably already know but whatever..)

A CLIP OF KELLY CLARKSON'S NEW SONG!

*freaks out*

I wasn't too keen on the chorus at first but I've loved the verse from the very start! The chorus now has become amazing! The verse is definitely very Since You've Been Gone-ish and the chorus is what Because of You would sound like if it was sped up a bit and rock-ized.

Brillance, I tell you.

BRILLIANCE.

And that's just the clip, what more if the whole song was leaked? AAAHH!!!!

New Music!

School's getting slightly less stressful now so lemme fill you guys in on what I've been listening to these past few days(and plus the fact that my last new music post was a disaster..).

• I just discovered a while ago that Stacie Orrico's (There's Gotta Be) More To Life was written by a girl called Lucy Woodward who apparently won an award for it. She also apparently recorded a version of it for the Japanese release of her album(which means it might have been on the album released in some other parts of Asia, including where I live! yay!) and I'm listening to it as I'm writing this. Vocally she's not as good a Stacie, I think the song sounds better sung by a smoother and more powerful voice like Stacie's and this version's a bit too lazy and rock-ish versus the very, very, VERY pop nature of Stacie's version, which I love to bits. Amazing song though, whoever sings it.(I'm listening to the Stacie version now, and I really love it heaps better than this one! haha.)
• I've heard Utada's new American song as well, Come Back To Me and I was surprised at what I heard! When I heard the pianos, I thought it would be more of a Flavor Of Live-ish ballad but it's nowhere near that. First and foremost, it's R&B which makes sense since it's for the US and right now the way into the market is R&B but somehow I still heard Utada in this song. Maybe it's because of her distinct voice or something like that but even if she is really a JPop artist and her Japanese songs are nowhere near this, it somehow still makes sense for her. The end though, sounds a lot like an Utada song(haha..). I love the verses and the chorus but I am a bit bothered by the talking(I always am, in any song, duh.). Still, amazing song and I'm curious about what the rest of her US album is going to sound like!
• So yesterday I had another chat with BeE(I always do.. haha.) and she told me about this song by Keke Palmer called Bottoms Up. She thought it was a remix of the track of the same name on her debut album but I listened to the album track then this track in question and they were nowhere near each other. I later found out that it was the theme song for some kind of movie or TV show. I love the song, the melody's amazing! Wanna hear the song? Head on over to Pop Nation!
• I don't know if I said this already but I have once again predicted a post-album single, this time for Jesse McCartney! Yup, How Do You Sleep is the confirmed third single from Departure and with that comes a remix! There's a version with Ludacris in it and apart from the fact that the intro was cut short and there are these strange noises during the bridges, I kinda like this version. The rapping is for once not that annoying, it's tasteful, I love how it wasn't just put into the song without thought, the beat was measured and all, I love it! haha.
• Well, Popjustice has heard Kelly Clarkson's new single and they're saying it sounds a lot like Since You've Been Gone! In that case, I'm even more excited to hear the song itself! I hear it's premiering Wednesday next week in the US. Fingers crossed it's got an amazing melody!
• Speaking of Kelly Clarkson, I've been listening back to the singles off Breakaway and they were absolutely, undeniably GENIUS. The album could've just been made up of those five songs and it would still sell millions. That's what they are, amazing pop songs that'll forever be remembered by my generation. I definitely think Breakaway is one of the best mainstream pop albums the US has produced in the past nine years, Idol certainly didn't get this winner wrong.
• There's a new Varsity Fanclub song out. I so can't wait for the album, the two songs I've heard so far are absolutely AMAZING!!!! Melodically and everything, thank heaven's they're getting somewhere with the album release, it's coming out this month! Now all I want are the NLT, V Factory and WESTLIFE(AAAH!) albums and my year is half-complete! haha. Me freaking out, sorry.

Okkkk...

Now I'm slightly confused but happy, Corbin's new video is out! Not what I was expecting though, for the theme park and all. What really annoys me is the sound of the people screaming that's louder than the actual singing, I get distracted. Anyway, here's the video:

In other news, the new Kelly Clarkson single cover is out. I'm loving the color combination!