pills serif;”>Without a doubt Kelly Clarkson is the most successful American Idol alum. Her debut album tadalafil serif;”>Thankful viagra serif;”>reached the Number 1 spot on the Billboard charts in the US and her sophomore album Breakaway spawned four top ten singles and won two Grammy awards. She received further chart success with her following two albums and seems set to achieve this success again with her release Stronger, despite the lacklustre music on offer.
Stronger is another pop-rock post-break-up record which Clarkson claims is influenced by Prince, Tina Turner and Radiohead. It is generally a decent effort, however, there is very little that separates this album from every other one currently on the market. The first single from the album ‘Mr. Know It All’ has already reached #2 on the Billboard charts in the US and is her second best selling single. It’s your typical break-up inspired pop song featuring repetitive lyrics and a pretty generic chord progression. It is a catchy song, but doesn’t feature anything special. Furthermore, ‘Love Me’, clearly the Prince influenced song, features some 80’s style guitar riffs, but lacks originality and features lyrics that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve heard the song previously on the album.
However, Clarkson does provide some decent songs. The title track ‘What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)’ features anthemic lyrics, catchy synthesiser and outshines all the other tracks on the album, all the while burying itself in your memory in a not unpleasant way. It is a clear effort by Clarkson to compete with the current electro-pop trend in the charts and is bound to achieve her some success. ‘The War Is Over’ and ‘Dark Side’ are two honourable mentions as they stood out from the other standard poppy love and heartache songs on the album.
Clarkson is clearly a great singer with a powerful voice. Stronger is an enjoyable listen with a few stand out tracks, however, there is very little that is new or original on this album. Although it is bound to achieve moderate chart success, there is nothing new or groundbreaking here, she was on American Idol after all.
Karla Chubb
