Sometime in the past three years since 'Breakaway,' someone really pissed Kelly off, and it shows in her music. Big time. Almost every track is negative in content, often angry, but it's never depressing. On the contrary, it's more of an album about self empowerment; learning from mistakes, righting previous wrongs, and just flat letting people know about themselves.
Usually, I start off with the negatives of an album, but there's not much to talk about on that side of the fence. The second track, 'One Minute,' seems just a touch out of place, but it's not 'bad.' The electronic effects just seemed to contrast with the rest of of the disc, and sounded like something I'd hear on one of Lindsay Lohan's CDs (which aren't quite as bad as you'd think).
The good? Well, I could write another 2,000 words on that, as I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the album. Everyone has probably heard the lead single, 'Never Again,' and that sound is very indicative of what you'll hear out of most of the other 13 tracks.
'Sober' is certainly one of the best examples of a song about self improvement, despite the pain you may cause yourself. It's a slower song, more of a ballad (and therefor likely to be a single), but even it really picks up the pace at the end. Clarkson's vocals are so strong when she really starts belting it, and you can truly feel the emotive qualities of the song. That's a sign of a maturing artist that is honing her craft.
'Be Still' is the slowest, most low key track, and her voice is incredibly soft, sultry, and seductive. Moving away from 'rock' a bit, this song touches on R&B and blues. Almost Nora Jones-esque. 'Irvine,' the last track, has that feel too, but is a very spiritual song from the viewpoint of a person on the edge reaching out to God. At the conclusion of 'Irvine.' another acoustic track awaits those who are patient enough; the song I assume is named 'Chivas' starts up at about the 5:20 mark after some dead air.
'Judas' is a great one, probably my personal favorite, though it's for personal reasons, so you my not agree. 'Haunted' is a track that could've easily found itself on an Evanscence album, that could be about a relationship gone wrong, but can easily touch on the topic of death at the same time.
After that, just take your pick. There's not one track that I'd skip on a regular basis; it's just stupid good from top to bottom. Kelly has really earned this blogger's respect with 'My December.' I'm already wanting more. Go buy it and enjoy it!