“A catchy, solid and addictive album. May not have the multiple barrage of commercial hits like the tracks on “Breakout” but nevertheless, it’s great to Clarkson return to the enjoyable and energetic musical setting. May it be rock or pop, Clarkson truly delivers!”
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ARTIST: Kelly Clarkson
ALBUM: All I Ever Wanted (Digital Version)
LABEL: RCA
DURATION: 50:24
RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2009
- My Life Wold Suck Without You
- I Do Not Hook Up
- Cry
- Don’t Let Me Stop You
- All I Ever Wanted
- Already Gone
- If I Can’t Have You
- Save You
- Whyyawannabringmedown
- Impossible
- Ready
- I Want You
- If No One Will Listen
I’ve enjoyed Kelly Clarkson back in the first “American Idol” up to the release of her 2004 hit album “Breakaway”. The album had a string of awesome hits and then with the release of “My December” in 2007, as much as I enjoyed the album, I just felt it was missing something and to tell you the truth, her last album didn’t stay in my CD rotation all that long. If anything, the album was called dark and so much hoopla of how Clarkson defied her own label with that album.
But leaving the past behind, here we are two years later and Kelly Clarkson kicked off 2009 with her 14th CD single “My Life Would Suck Without You” which I definitely raved about in my review of the single (the single would reach #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 and BBC Radio 1 music charts), but I wanted to wait for her fourth full length album “All I Ever Wanted” and just see if she can retain that same excitement I had for her music since “Breakaway”.
Well, let’s just say that I’ve listened to the album in several rotations thus far and it’s a very good album!
For this album, Clarkson teams up with Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Howard Benson and OneRepublic vocalist Ryan Tedder who said this album was going to utilize more choruses and heavy drum programming and influence by bands such as Garbage.
The first track on the album is her hit single “My Life Would Suck Without You” which is a fun, energetic, synth-pop track. A song that shows the vitality of Clarkson’s beautiful vocals and one hell of a catchy song.   Produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin, known for Clarkson’s previous two chart topping hits “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes”, these two are a great musical combination. And for Martin, the song is not a bubble pop as his previous works with Britney Spears or angry or dark like his recent work on Pink’s latest album.
The second track “I Do Not Hook Up” features a song written by Katy Perry and produced by Howard Benson. A catchy rock track that is electric guitar driven and a song you can just imagine Clarkson really busting out in a live performance. And this is not the only rock-based track as the fourth track “Don’t Let Me Stop You” is a cool, catchy and a powerful rock track.
The third track “Cry” is a beautiful rock ballad with a touch of country written by Clarkson, one of three slow ballads on the album, the second is “Save You” written by Clarkson and Ryan Tedder featuring a synth/slow jam with the other emotional slow jam being “If No One Will Listen” written by Keri Noble and produced by Clarkson which is elegant cover track of Noble’s 2004 song (featured on Noble’s 2004 album “Fearless”) and spotlights Clarkson’s beautiful vocals with piano and light percussion.
The fifth title track on the album is written by and produced by former Color Me Badd member and musical partner Louis Biancaniello who have had a string of hits for Jessica Simpson (“A Public Affair”), Anastacia, Celine Dion, Leona Lewis, etc. I actually dig the melody and enjoyed this track a lot. While that track is more pop, the second collaboration track with Sam and Louis would be the electric guitar driven rock track “Whyyawannabringmedown” that is fun but also kind of pissy, I like it! And the third collaboration track is “I Want You” which was a catchy, 50’s inspired like-track.
The sixth track through eight tracks (and track eleven) features Clarkson’s collaboration with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder who co-wrote and produced the tracks. Where track 6 is an upbeat ballad featuring a heavy drum track, track seven’s “If I Can’t Have You” is an upbeat synthpop track with the feel of a new Britney track that you expect will get remixed by several DJ’s because of it’s club-like feel. Track 8’s “Save You” is a song written by Tedder and Aimee Proal for her band ‘Till November. Track 11 titled “Impossible” is a synth/drum programmed track which was my least favorite of the four tracks produced by Tedder.
The tenth track “Long Shot” is the second Katy Perry written track on the album. A very cool track that probably works better for Clarkson than Perry. Well-sung rock track.
The twelfth track “Ready” had a Lily Allen kind of musical feel. A Mellow upbeat track written by Clarkson and produced by Howard Benson.
Overall, Clarkson’s “All I Ever Wanted” is a good album but I was hoping to see more collaborations with Dr. Luke and Max Martin. These two along with Clarkson really come up with awesome tracks but I suppose for an artist, it’s about the multiple (and new) collaborations you can have and you do get a variety of different styles of musical tracks on this album.
A catchy, solid and addictive album. May not have the multiple barrage of commercial hits like the tracks on “Breakout” but nevertheless, it’s great to Clarkson return to the enjoyable and energetic musical setting. May it be rock or pop, Clarkson truly delivers!
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