The Travesty that is Kelly Clarkson's New Single
"Life Would Suck Without You"
Yes, you are reading a blog written by Myranda Warden...my account has not been hacked...and yes you read right...I believe the new single released by Kelly Clarkson (debatable but that will be discussed) is a travesty...and yes I know what the definition of travesty is...according to dictionary.com...a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model...that's my genuine opinion of this song. Now to the why's...
Why Number One
The lyrics. I read the lyrics about two weeks before the song was released. The first disappointment is that it was not written by Kelly. It was written by apparently-amazing-pop-geniuses Dr. Luke and Max Martin. They produced it as well. They are supposed "hit makers" according to the articles/reviews I've read. So I read the lyrics and it seemed...okay. But after listening to it, I just don't like them. There is little continuity in the song. If you are going to tell a story of two people who fight, bicker, break up and get back together, have a dysfunctional relationship all-in-all then make it make sense. Telling a story implies that there are distinct parts: a beginning, a middle, an end....and if it's a good story there's a climactic moment. This song begins and ends....but everything in between is very blurry. There's no real climactic moment. You think the first time the power chorus is sung that that is the climactic moment. Nope. The second and third verses are the same kind of talk as the first verse. For example, in the third verse it says:
"I really shouldn't miss you, but I can't let go"
It says this after the couple gets back together in the first verse. I don't know. It just could have been done so much better. There are a lot of good "one-liners" that could have been so much more powerful and artistic if it was put together better. But you know after reading the lyrics for the first time, I didn't dislike it. Because although it wasn't written by Kelly, I was thinking she would make it remarkable anyway. Then I actually heard the song...
Why Number Two
The ridiculous noise that is called the music or the instrumental of this song. The first time I heard it, I was driving home from school. Brittany pulled it up on the laptop for me to hear it. I put my head against the window and was literally stunned. I felt like (as I do right now as I am writing this) a sincere sadness for what I was hearing. The music is Miley Cyrus quality. There's nothing wrong with Miley Cyrus music...because it's Miley Cyrus. It fits her image, her audience, her own genre. Kelly Clarkson is not Miley Cyrus. Far from it. Listening to it feels like High School Musical 4 featuring Kelly Clarkson. Her voice sounds great; it always does. But the bubble gum/techno-y pop does not. It's not Kelly. It's not her image. It doesn't fit her audience. It is not her genre. My fourteen-year-old sister, Kacey who has shared my love for Kelly for years (before hearing my opinion of the song) said, "It's too poppy. I'd like it if Miley were singing it." That sums up exactly what I'm saying. It's just not her...and it makes me so sad. Even Thankful, Kelly's first album released after she won American Idol had more artistic value/Kelly-ness than this song does. I just don't feel her in this song...which takes me to my last why.
Why Number Three
It's not Kelly. It's her voice. It's her name. It's her label. But it's not her. It's a sell-out. She fought like hell for My December because it was all her. She wrote the songs, produced some even. It was all so Kelly. The songs were written out of the pains and joys of her own life experiences. And when you listen to that album, you can feel it. You can feel the pain she felt when you're belting out the chorus to "Sober." You can experience the hope she had when you're listening to the words of "Maybe." Its artistic value is immeasurable. It's real. It's passionate. That is the Kelly I fell in love with when I heard the song "Thankful" for the first time. That's the title of her first album and one of the songs on that album that she wrote herself. It's full of Kelly and everything she was experiencing in that time in her life. The same is true for the songs on Breakaway. "Because of You" became the biggest hit of that album; she wrote it when she was sixteen. That's the Kelly Clarkson I love. Then, for My December, she fought "the man" figuratively and literally for her art. He delayed the release of the album for months and months because he only cared about the monetary value of the album, not the artistic value. But she stood by her music. I so admired her for that, as an artist and as a woman in a field dominated by male power-heads. The album didn't do as great as Breakaway as far as album sales, concert sales, and Grammys are concerned. But, as far as I'm concerned, it has been the most sublime music she has put out lyrically and musically. Then, to release this...this sell-out single. That's precisely what it is. Clive brought in a couple of "hit makers" to override everything beautiful Kelly Clarkson has made of her music...for a couple of bucks. It kills me. I could go on a feminist rant about the silencing of the woman's voice by patriarchal forces in order to acquiesce to a system that enforces competition of voices over sharing of voices, the dollar over the experience, the man over the woman, but that's for another day. Needless to say, this is a classical example of that. I am disappointed in Kelly for not continuing the fight. At the same time, though, I feel sorry for her. She is a victim of the system.
Those are the why's. I'm sad. Just sad about it. I guess this day was inevitable for Kelly and I. It's not a parting of the ways, by any means. I am hoping and praying the rest of her album redeems my sadness, even a little bit. If not, I will continue to love Kelly. That's no question. And maybe a day will come when I can listen to "Life Would Suck Without You" without wanting to cry and I can just take it for what it is. But I doubt it.
Yes, you are reading a blog written by Myranda Warden...my account has not been hacked...and yes you read right...I believe the new single released by Kelly Clarkson (debatable but that will be discussed) is a travesty...and yes I know what the definition of travesty is...according to dictionary.com...a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model...that's my genuine opinion of this song. Now to the why's...
Why Number One
The lyrics. I read the lyrics about two weeks before the song was released. The first disappointment is that it was not written by Kelly. It was written by apparently-amazing-pop-geniuses Dr. Luke and Max Martin. They produced it as well. They are supposed "hit makers" according to the articles/reviews I've read. So I read the lyrics and it seemed...okay. But after listening to it, I just don't like them. There is little continuity in the song. If you are going to tell a story of two people who fight, bicker, break up and get back together, have a dysfunctional relationship all-in-all then make it make sense. Telling a story implies that there are distinct parts: a beginning, a middle, an end....and if it's a good story there's a climactic moment. This song begins and ends....but everything in between is very blurry. There's no real climactic moment. You think the first time the power chorus is sung that that is the climactic moment. Nope. The second and third verses are the same kind of talk as the first verse. For example, in the third verse it says:
"I really shouldn't miss you, but I can't let go"
It says this after the couple gets back together in the first verse. I don't know. It just could have been done so much better. There are a lot of good "one-liners" that could have been so much more powerful and artistic if it was put together better. But you know after reading the lyrics for the first time, I didn't dislike it. Because although it wasn't written by Kelly, I was thinking she would make it remarkable anyway. Then I actually heard the song...
Why Number Two
The ridiculous noise that is called the music or the instrumental of this song. The first time I heard it, I was driving home from school. Brittany pulled it up on the laptop for me to hear it. I put my head against the window and was literally stunned. I felt like (as I do right now as I am writing this) a sincere sadness for what I was hearing. The music is Miley Cyrus quality. There's nothing wrong with Miley Cyrus music...because it's Miley Cyrus. It fits her image, her audience, her own genre. Kelly Clarkson is not Miley Cyrus. Far from it. Listening to it feels like High School Musical 4 featuring Kelly Clarkson. Her voice sounds great; it always does. But the bubble gum/techno-y pop does not. It's not Kelly. It's not her image. It doesn't fit her audience. It is not her genre. My fourteen-year-old sister, Kacey who has shared my love for Kelly for years (before hearing my opinion of the song) said, "It's too poppy. I'd like it if Miley were singing it." That sums up exactly what I'm saying. It's just not her...and it makes me so sad. Even Thankful, Kelly's first album released after she won American Idol had more artistic value/Kelly-ness than this song does. I just don't feel her in this song...which takes me to my last why.
Why Number Three
It's not Kelly. It's her voice. It's her name. It's her label. But it's not her. It's a sell-out. She fought like hell for My December because it was all her. She wrote the songs, produced some even. It was all so Kelly. The songs were written out of the pains and joys of her own life experiences. And when you listen to that album, you can feel it. You can feel the pain she felt when you're belting out the chorus to "Sober." You can experience the hope she had when you're listening to the words of "Maybe." Its artistic value is immeasurable. It's real. It's passionate. That is the Kelly I fell in love with when I heard the song "Thankful" for the first time. That's the title of her first album and one of the songs on that album that she wrote herself. It's full of Kelly and everything she was experiencing in that time in her life. The same is true for the songs on Breakaway. "Because of You" became the biggest hit of that album; she wrote it when she was sixteen. That's the Kelly Clarkson I love. Then, for My December, she fought "the man" figuratively and literally for her art. He delayed the release of the album for months and months because he only cared about the monetary value of the album, not the artistic value. But she stood by her music. I so admired her for that, as an artist and as a woman in a field dominated by male power-heads. The album didn't do as great as Breakaway as far as album sales, concert sales, and Grammys are concerned. But, as far as I'm concerned, it has been the most sublime music she has put out lyrically and musically. Then, to release this...this sell-out single. That's precisely what it is. Clive brought in a couple of "hit makers" to override everything beautiful Kelly Clarkson has made of her music...for a couple of bucks. It kills me. I could go on a feminist rant about the silencing of the woman's voice by patriarchal forces in order to acquiesce to a system that enforces competition of voices over sharing of voices, the dollar over the experience, the man over the woman, but that's for another day. Needless to say, this is a classical example of that. I am disappointed in Kelly for not continuing the fight. At the same time, though, I feel sorry for her. She is a victim of the system.
Those are the why's. I'm sad. Just sad about it. I guess this day was inevitable for Kelly and I. It's not a parting of the ways, by any means. I am hoping and praying the rest of her album redeems my sadness, even a little bit. If not, I will continue to love Kelly. That's no question. And maybe a day will come when I can listen to "Life Would Suck Without You" without wanting to cry and I can just take it for what it is. But I doubt it.