Kelly Clarkson - Meaning of Life

Kelly Clarkson
Meaning of Life
2017
Spotify

The opening of Meaning of Life, "A Minute", is more or less an excuse for Clarkson to go on a few vocal runs before the album jumps off. One of the few remaining star from American Idol we have seen her go from young pop star to a more refined soul singer. On this new album she goes all in with R&B and Soul, perhaps pushing for that diva status. It seems like throughout her career she has tried damn near everything moving from genre to genre with varying degrees of success. On this album she is highly confident and extremely capable, but the conclusions on the record are so basic. She is going for a self-empowerment strong woman anthems, and they are perfectly fine but just so fucking generic. With the songwriters likely at Clarkson's disposal landing on songs that are this mediocre is kind of unforgivable. She has the right ideas like freedom on "Move You" and unconditional love on "Love So Soft" but these exact sentiments, perhaps even these exact songs have been done 10,000 times before. She is able to harness her fantastic voice to drive what would otherwise be unlistenable tracks and make them somewhat enjoyable but she panders rather than inspires time after time. Then comes "Whole Lotta Woman" where everything gets extra fucking ridiculous: It might as well be Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" just southern style. When a song comes out about being a larger gal and proud of it, it needs to be inspired and really connect otherwise it feels like condescending nonsense. They try to make it seem like this is a song about loving yourself, but it's more about grasping for fans.

"Cruel" also tries to be this slick song with plenty of room for Clarkson to go on vocal runs, but the production is so bad. It is right on the edge of being something great, but in doing so falls flat on it's face. The funkier numbers are where she really sounds bad because the production is just so fucking weak. "Didn't I" sounds like it was made on a computer or keyboard but tries to simulate these big band sounds with blaring horns and a raucous celebratory vibe but in reality it sounds thin fully missing the mark. Kelly Clarkson is in this weird middle ground where she can't go all in on modern pop, it just wouldn't fit, but she also doesn't want to fully embrace the Adult Contemporary vibe and be stuck on the radio station your mom listens to everyday. If this album felt more analogue, more grounded in real instrumentation and couple with Clarkson's voice it could not be stopped, but instead they land at this half electronic mess. "I Don't Think About You" which is the big emotionally charged number about moving on sounds like neither of those things, and when a power ballad falls flat, good god does it blow. This album is just missing to much, and too much of a cursory glance at what Kelly Clarkson could be. This is not a step forward, it's more like a big leap back, avoid avoid avoid.

4.0 out of 10