My December: A Review

Okay, for all of those die hard Kelly Clarkson fans out there, I have the new album and have listened to the whole thing in its entirety and I have to say it really isn't as bad as everyone is saying it is. It is exactly what critics say it is when they are referring to it being the opposite of Breakaway. It is dark, and you WILL have to listen to the whole thing twice, maybe three times to fully appreciate it. There are actually a couple of songs that I am not in love with, but my favorite songs are "One Minute", "Sober", "Don't Waste Your Time", "Haunted", "Maybe", and "Irvine". There are quite a few "eff you and go straight to hell" songs on the album and that makes it great. I don't have high hopes for sales this time around, but I get what she is trying to do and I applaud her for every single effort she put forth and the more I listen to it the more I fall in love with it. I have shared the album with other friends and they all agree that one go around is not sufficient to appreciate the whole thing. Some of my favorite lyrics:

Don't Waste Your Time:

Don't waste your time trying to fix
What I want to erase
What I need to forget
Don't waste your time on me my friend
Friend, what does that even mean
I don't want your hand
You'll only pull me down
So save your breath
Don't waste your song on me, on me
Don't waste your time
It's not easy not answering
Every time I want to talk to you
But I can't
If you only knew the hell I put myself through
Replaying memories in my head of you and I
Every night

Sober:

And I don’t know
I could crash and burn but maybe
At the end of this road I might catch a glimpse of me
So I won’t worry about my timing, I want to get it right
No comparing, second guessing, no not this time
...but I know it's never really over

Haunted:

The voices in my head
Whispers taunting
All the things you said
Faster the days go by
and I’m still Stuck in this moment of wanting you here
Time
In the blink of an eye
You held my hand, you held me tight
Now you’re gone
And I’m still crying
Shocked, broken I’m dying inside
....I miss you, you hurt me
You left with a smile

Maybe:

And I’ll probably never have it all figured out
But what I know is I wasn’t meant to walk this world without you
And I promise I’ll try
Yeah I’m gonna try to give you every little part of me
Every single detail you missed with your eyes
Then maybeMaybe, yeah maybe
One day
We’ll meet again and you’ll need me, you’ll see me completely
Every little bit
Oh yeah maybe you’ll love me, you’ll love me then
I don’t want to be tough
And I don’t want to be proud
I don’t need to be fixed and I certainly don’t need to be found
I’m not lost
I need to be lovedI just need to be loved
I should know better than to touch the fire twice
But I’m thinking maybe, yeah maybe you might

In the end, I will admit that I probably would not have given this album a second listen if it weren't Kelly Clarkson, but I am glad and did, AND I encourage everyone to go out and buy this album, because despite what the critics say and what everyone thinks they know, they don't know the gem this album really is, and I can't say enough...the more I listen the more I love.