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Kelly Clarkson is arguably one of the strongest powerhouse voices to grace the music world in recent years, and the best of her heavier-rock pop sound shines through on 2009's All I Ever Wanted. She struck gold a few years earlier with 2004's Breakaway and hadn't hit her poppier stride of 2011's Stronger, so it would be easy for All I Ever Wanted to get lost in the shuffle. However, in my eyes, this is Kelly Clarkson at her absolute best. Enough ballads to show off the softness and range of her voice and enough angry pop-rock music to push the power and sass of her voice to its limits.
Stand-out tracks: "My Life Would Suck Without You" "Already Gone" "Impossible"
My favorites: "If I Can't Have You" "All I Ever Wanted" "Long Shot"
The album kicks off strong with "My Life Would Suck Without You," a cheeky power pop song that is enough to catch your attention and keep you listening. The sassiness kicks into even higher gear on "I Do Not Hook Up" - this one is mostly just fun, but it would be super cathartic to scream-sing both it and it's predecessor.
"Cry" is one of the stronger ballads on this album, breaking up the power anthems nicely with soaring, crushing vocals. "All I Ever Wanted" is a darker pop sound, unrelenting in the lyrical and vocal reminder that "all I ever wanted was a simple way to get over you." If you thought "Cry" was going to be the best ballad of this album, "Already Gone" would hit you like a truck; it has that persistent, thrumming instrumental sound that pairs gorgeously with powerful vocals unique to Kelly Clarkson.
My personal favorite ever since I heard All I Ever Wanted back at 11 years old is "If I Can't Have You" - it's poppy, it's bold, it has full-bodied guitars and vocals that just make you perform it into a hairbrush - a 10/10 pop-rock song. "Impossible" toes the line between ballad and almost electronic-sounding, illustrating the co-occurring heartbreak and empowerment that comes with the end of a non-functional relationship.
Is every song on All I Ever Wanted worth listening to? Probably not. But are the songs that are worth listening to pop-rock perfection? Yes, I would say they are.
AM I OBSESSED?
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