Album Review: Kelly Clarkson - Chemistry

Pop music is a different beast to most anything else. If the rock bands we listen to keep going with their signature sound, they can have long and fruitful careers. Just think about all the jokes we made about AC/DC, Motorhead, and the like. Staying true to your identity never hurt them in the slightest. That isn't true of pop music, though, where the fashions (and the audience) change so quickly you have to keep up with the times if you want to stay relevant. Pop artists who don't adapt find themselves falling out of favor with all but their most ardent fans. It's a tough business, for sure.

Kelly Clarkson has adapted over the years, which is both praise for her as an artist, and disappointment for me as a listener. I know the moment in time that let "Since U Been Gone" become a massive hit are gone, but it's still sad to hear little from those days still exist in the music she is now making. It isn't that diversions are being taken, as I still loved "My December", but the very nature of what pop is today makes it hard for me to embrace records like this.

That's natural, though. Over nearly twenty years, we change as people, and Kelly Clarkson today is not the same person she was back then. To make records that sound just like that would be dishonest. Growing apart is simply part of the process, and this record reminds me that other people seem to grow, while I tend to stay the same. So maybe it's all my fault.

The one thing I can't deny is Kelly's voice, which is as strong and rich as ever. Whether she's belting with all her heart, or hitting falsetto notes with a striking amount of body to them, she hasn't lost a step. Say what you want about pop music, but there are some truly fantastic singers who could succeed in any genre, and she is one of them. If anything, the experiences of life have only given her more colors to play with.

My problem is, as ever, the synthetic sound and feeling of much of the album's production. When you have such an amazing human instrument, wrapping it up in chintzy sounding instrumentals is close to a sin. This record calls out to sound big and open, with depth to the mix where we can hear the powerful echo of her voice as it moves the world around us. Instead, the music feels as thin and plasticine as the conventional criticism warrants.

Also, for being pop music, there isn't much 'pop' to it. These songs don't build to bopping hooks and saccharine melodies. Much of it plays out as a singer-songwriter album with drum loops working underneath. It makes for an odd experience, as it feels like two worlds that haven't figured out how to mesh together. I get the sense this was meant to be an 'adult contemporary' record, but modern pop got sucked in to make it more marketable. How else am I to explain those truly awful sound effects that come in on "Favorite Kind Of High"? Dear lord, they're terrible.

In a lot of ways, this record gives me the same impression Pink's did earlier in the year. They're two fantastic voices that produced a string of hits I still adore, but they don't translate to the modern version of pop music with nearly the same appeal. If they can't get me to care, what chance does any pop artist have these days?