Idolator

Um...Mike Watt plays bass on this record? WTF?

I listened to it last week and i wasn't that impressed. You're better then that, Kelly. To much Vitamin Water if you ask me.

Four songs in, I'm bored. It's no worse than, say, Avril Lavigne, but it sounds Evanescence-y to me. And I'm not an Evanescence fan.

@crm: This was known for some months now! Hell, Idolator referenced it yesterday.

I was JUST pretending I was Clive James, actually.

You mean someone whose whole career was started by a reality TV game show's record sucks?

You don't say.

I like it better than I thought I would.

It's too bad that many of the track fall into Evanescence/Pink territory. The highlights of the record (Be Still, Irvine) show that she's much, MUCH better when she embraces her inner Patty Griffin/Bonnie Raitt (Irvine even brings to mind Feist)...

@Aquemini:

Voice of reason right there.

MTV's site is frustratingly not Mac-tastic.

Where's dennisobell? Shouldn't he be first in line on a Kelly Clarkson post to defend her honor?

Is this all a plot to get My December released in December itself? Might as well, with the Holiday Season only six months away.

@fishnotfried: Thanks for that...um, invocation, but like misskarina I'm unable to stream due to my Mac-loving ass. And I'm just enough of a sonic snob that I'd rather not listen to a shitty third-rate rip. So I'm waiting, for now. But if anyone wants to point me toward a decent-sounding torrent, I'd be most appreciative.

@KingHater: Exactly, Clarkson's success undermines the pure meritocracy of the music industry. Britney Spears, Milli Vanilli, and Nickleback all made it the hard way...

Note: I would name more recent crap, but have had a delightfully crap-free 12 mos. I've never even heard "Stars are Blind." Also, I don't even like Kelly Clarkson that much...

@misskarina: I'm having trouble too... how do I shot web?

@janine:

Well my dear, dub me an old fogey already in my 20s, but I liked things better back when the pre-fabrication aspect happened behind-the-scenes -- when the sinister, cynical calculations of the biz were still considered somewhat shameful and therefore done in private offices and boardrooms, rather than out in the open as accepted norm. Somehow things just seemed a bit more...romantic back then.

And as per your list there: despite their indisputable suckitude and meticulously crafted mainstream rock radio formula, it may disturb you to know that Nickelback did, in fact, come up "the hard way". I know this for a fact...stories which are not particularly in my interest to relay, and I'm sure not in your interest to hear.

@Thierry: Irvine sounds a bit like Cat Power, too.

Overall, I like the album.

I have a Mac, and the MTV site tells me they can't "secure my DRM license." Whatever.

I streamed "Hole" from Hype Machine, and surprisingly I don't hate it. It's not the best thing out there, but it's got an interesting guitar riff. Darker, but still poppy. Less shrieky than "Never Again."

If she was going to make any kind of shift from her "Since U Been Gone" sound, this "hard-rock-lite" stuff was probably the best way to go. Which is not to say I'm won over.

I know that Nickleback came up the hard way, that's why I included them. Their so-called authenticity doesn't make them suck any less. I only care if the music's good; it doesn't matter to me how it was put together.

Don't get me wrong. "Since U Been Gone" is very overrated, but not because of anything having to do with American Idol.

@janine:

I'm not sure whether I care how Nickelback came up, as long as they go back down, and find a way to erase my memory of them as well.

@KingHater:

If you're not interested in the machinations of the music industry, why are you reading an Idolator post on Kelly Clarkson?

@dennisobell:

Tankboy has an mp3 (thanks, Tankboy!) and to me, "How I Feel" sounds weirdly Postal Service-esque (note the 2:45 skittery breakdown), which is a direction I wholeheartedly endorse, though I am still holding out for the club-banger remix album ft. Justice, MSTRKRFT, Ratatat, etc.

I'm looking forward to the inevitable "Sober"/"Rehab" mash-up...

I really like it. Surprisingly so. All the bad press has you prepping for a train wreck, and it's neither. And it's definitely better than Pink, because Kelly can sing. Why do you think Pink has so many tat's?