Solid second album for the US Idol starlet (Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson
Date:	18/07/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some powerful vocals and combos of guitar and lyrics

Disadvantages: Too safe and commercial for me

Kelly Clarkson has enjoyed success over the past couple of years since she launched herself into our musical lives on American Idol. Breakaway, her second album, features a number of singles as well as album fillers, and is a solid start to a promising career, attempting to break free from the shackles of Idol. It's not perfect, and there isn't a great deal of variation to it, but each song is easy to listen to.

The album starts off with a number of the singles, instantly recognisable to followers of the charts a few years ago. Breakaway has a clever combination of soothing and relaxing chords, with the heavier Since You've Been Gone following on suit. It's catchy, but I wasn't really a fan of this as a single. To round the first three off, Behind These Hazel Eyes has a combination of the two, switching the soft with the heavy, before my favourite track of the album, Because Of You, comes in. This has very powerful vocals and lyrics, and the emotion is felt coming through in the music.

The remainder of the album, while enjoyable to listen to, doesn't really do anything special. Addicted is nice and soothing, and there is a nice combination of the slow and the fast as we progress through to the end. However, there is nothing special. It's all very 'safe' in many ways. Clarkson's vocals match heavy guitar riffs and emotional lyrics very well, and these are exactly what we get all the way through. It does have a very generic feel to it, a very simple and safe commercial appeal, which as a first 'on your own' dig isn't a bad idea.

Her more recent albums have been a bit more adventurous, with Kelly having more and more of a hand in the writing of the music. This does have the disadvantage of not being quite so commercial, but I personally think it makes elements better than Breakaway. This is an enjoyable album to listen to, but you'd be forgiven for not recognising one song from the other unless you put it on loop time after time. There is the mix of slow and fast, but it's all in the same vein of guitar and vocals, pushing her strong rock chick voice throughout its tracks. Walk Away and You Found Me are two interesting tracks, enjoyable at the time, but again, instantly forgettable in many ways. I Liked the bonus element of having a live track, Beautiful Disaster, added in, and a good cover of Miss Independent, although again, nothing particularly special.

The problem with having such a routine album, good as it is, is that although there is nothing fundamentally wrong, it doesn't do anything special for me. Sure, there are some great tracks on here, but perhaps the only one I feel moved by, that I believe the lyrics to, is Because Of You. It has more emotion, and less commercial cheese, and I like the crescendo elements of the chorus. Other than that, it's a good album, but nothing special for me. Well worth listening to more than once, but not particularly challenging.

1 Breakaway
2 Since U Been Gone
3 Behind These Hazel Eyes
4 Because Of You
5 Gone
6 Addicted
7 Where Is Your Heart
8 Walk Away
9 You Found Me
10 I Hate Myself For Losing You
11 Hear Me
12 Beautiful Disaster (Live) Bonus Tracks
13 Miss Independent
14 Low

Summary: Kelly Clarkson's second album