BEYONCÉ AND Kelly Clarkson have much in common. Both are colossal figures in female pop music; both have the kind of once-in-several-lifetimes voices that dress down even the harshest critics of their delivery method. As much as they command musical respect, neither gives much indication that the indiscretions she sings about have ever taken place in real life. Beyoncé’s relationship with Jay-Z has been too monogamous and boring for the tabloids; the most newsworthy thing Kelly Clarkson did in the past two years was to fight her record label for the right to release a nigh-unlistenable album.

Kelly Clarkson
All I Ever Wanted
Rating: 5.6/10
Sony BMG, 2009

On her fourth album, following the Pyrrhic victory that was My December, Clarkson has something to prove. Rather than experiment unsuccessfully, as Beyoncé did on last year’s I Am … Sasha Fierce, Clarkson’s All I Ever Wanted goes the way of Britney Spears’ 2007 comeback album Blackout. To stretch that comparison too far would be to unjustly insult Clarkson’s talent, but the two records resemble one another in more than their garish, hotly-colored cover art. Arriving back on the scene after a season in the dumps, Britney sounded like the sum of her collaborators, occasionally brilliant, but mostly substance without essence. Here, Kelly’s songwriters and producers overshadow her to a disappointing degree, blatantly aping every current pop music gimmick (including many of their own previous making) in the attempt to re-create her aptly-named second record, Breakaway. Hooks and heartbreak are apparently the official Kelly Clarkson trademark, but it is hard to imagine them capturing less of the visceral performer we felt on “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” “Walk Away,” and the raw, ripped-open “Sober.”

There’s no doubt this record put Clarkson in the uncomfortable position of owing her label a success after it supported her unsuccessful presentation of her “raw rocker” self. The best she could do here would be to gently subvert the formula, as her lead single, the irresistible “My Life Would Suck Without You,” suggested she might. Picturing on its cover a heavily lip-glossed Clarkson waving a red heart lollipop, the single was tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of what was happening: after failing at “real music,” she was admitting that studio confectionery sells albums and piling on as much irony as possible. “My Life Would Suck” follows the pattern of her biggest hit, “Since U Been Gone,” backing a shouty power chorus with thunderous power chords. Its intentionally ridiculous title announced freedom to consume without judgment, and, judging by the iTunes charts the past few weeks, millions indulged.

But past the opening track, All I Ever Wanted feels dangerously straight-faced. Introduced with a self-aware bit of Emily Dickinson verse (“At least to know the worst is sweet / Defeat means nothing but defeat, no worse can prevail”), the fifteen tracks handle every imaginable sequence of break-up with little humor or cleverness. The abundance of stock lyrics (repeated variations on clichés like “I want you to know,” “yes I do,” “into me”) make these romances feel filched from a dusty shelf. A girl can go through only so many men, and only respond in so many wildly contradictory ways—you’re a loser but I still want you, you’re a loser so get out of my house—before it begins to feel as concocted as Britney, mom of two, still acting like a stripper.

Fortunately Kelly has a huge talent, even when she is wasting it on inferior material. The Katy Perry-penned “I Do Not Hook Up” sounds like a Fall Out Boy melody (see “Coffee’s for Closers”) laid over the one-note slam at the climax of “Fix You,” and Clarkson tears it up with a gale of sassy vocals. “Don’t Let Me Stop You,” after directly ripping its opening from “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” mixes the grit of My December with big-country-star delivery flair. “Ready,” as well, slides around in a lilting country sensibility and plays lush tricks with layered harmony. The emotional closing ballad, a cover of Keri Noble’s “If No One Will Listen,” is Kelly Clarkson’s singing at its purest, alternatively gentle and powerful, tastefully accented by quiet piano.

The weakest bits of this record feel like a Top 40-artist mix and match game, particularly the tracks co-written with OneRepublic front-man Ryan Tedder. Tedder seems to be intent on bringing his band’s vague, clichéd, synthy rock to girl-pop everywhere (see his appearance on the latest Beyoncé record), and it sinks both “Save You” and “Already Gone.” The annoying “I Want You” sounds like a tinkery, whiny Fergie song (try telling it apart from “Clumsy.”) And while we’re complaining about Kelly marching around in the shoes of lesser artists, we should throw in that she sings a lot like Katy Perry on both tracks the girl-kissing wunderkind contributed.

It’s impossible to overrate Kelly Clarkson as a singer. No superlative is too big; in fact, most of them aren’t big enough. But her struggles to present a coherent musical image in the pop world constantly hearken back to the American Idol judges’ warnings: raw talent can get you pretty far, but not all of the way. All I Ever Wanted is another attempt to dress hers up in gimmickry, a mixed result that proves Kelly should drop her teen market in favor of one that lets her soar.