Empowerment anthems … Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first series of American Idol, has outlasted most reality stars, thanks to a knack for spotting (or co-writing) exactly the right air-punching empowerment anthems. But she’s also a truth-teller, and her candour carries her seventh album, which otherwise doesn’t provide many new angles on pop, rock or R&B. Her venom on the muscular pop title track – which compares her father unfavourably with her stepfather – is splattered across the song: “He restored my faith that a man could be kind and a father could stay,” it runs, climaxing in a feral wail. Elsewhere, she delivers one of her greatest kiss-offs on the stately ballad Someone, which is sung with utmost purity of tone: “So this is my apology for saying all those shitty things I wish I really didn’t mean/ I’m sorry I’m not sorry”. Her Mariah-like ability to deliver songs with maximum melismatic drama shows itself less often this time around, but when she does let loose, it’s a reminder that her amiable, Texas-girl exterior encases one of pop’s most forceful voices.
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