From leaving a small town behind for bigger adventures in "Breakaway" to the tired, broken girl on "Irvine" to the mother-issues-addled child of a broken home on "Because Of You" to vitriol-spitting ex-girlfriend on pretty much every other single, Kelly has been telling the stories that I have lived and the emotions I have felt throughout her post-Idol career.
On her 5th album, Stronger, Kelly tackles her most famous role again - hurt and angry ex-girlfriend with sass and attitude to spare. Like My December with better hooks, Stronger focuses on rock-guitar laced breakup anthems while the occasional foray into ballads and even light R&B. Lead single "Mr. Know It All" would make the album seem like a Bruno Mars inspired R&B/pop affair, but Kelly quickly delves into dancable pop rock on the exemplary title track before veering into what she does best - angry kiss offs like "Honestly" and "You Love Me." A spooky music box intro leads into introspective lyrics where she holds out hope for love that accepts her on her own level on "Dark Side." Other songs showing a more nuanced look at the end of relationships than her breakthrough "Since U Been Gone" are "The War Is Over" and the gorgous ballad "Breaking Your Own Heart"
The album is not without flaws - "Einstein" is well below Kelly's intelligence level with the nonsensical chorus lyric "dumb plus dumb equals you" and the disc should have either jettisoned "Mr. Know It All" or found some more R&B sounds to make it seem less of an oddball track. Even her "flop" dark rock-orientated My December found room for funkier fare like "How I Feel" and "Yeah."
The deluxe edition includes her hit duet with Jason Aldean "Don't You Wanna Stay" and two more rocking breakup jams. But another duet, with former Idol judge and hitmaking songwriter Kara DioGuardi, is a very pretty and hopeful sounding end to a sometimes dark night of the soul.
(PS: can you tell My December is my favorite Kelly Clarkson album?)
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