Kelly Clarkson Meaning Of Life

Kelly Clarkson won American Idol by delivering powerhouse vocals on mainly a soul tour de force. Winning the contest she was forced into "an arranged marriage" with the always contentious RCA CEO Clive Davis. Davis called the shots and Kelly made albums that were designed for her in a pop mainstream. It wasn't really the music she was yearning to make. 15 years after releasing a MISS INDEPENDENT which was anything but, Kelly is finally free to breath her own air with her newly signed contract at Atlantic, the progressive label that stabled real "independence" back when it allowed artists like Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, and Yes to call their own shots and be as creative as freedom allowed. THE MEANING OF LIFE is the album Kelly says she's been wanting to make since she was in junior high school! While working at RCA as an Idol, requirements ended up being something that "sometimes worked out and sometimes resulted in the hardest experiences of my life", it obviously gave Kelly a respect for artistry and possibly has helped her focus on what kind of artist she can really be. THE MEANING OF LIFE is one of the best albums I have heard by a contemporary artist in a long time. Love So Soft and Move You were tasty teases of what was to come, released as singles they immediately invoke a blue-eyed soul power that hasn't been matched since Dusty Springfield's Memphis Sessions resulted in her own pinnacle of achievement. THE MEANING OF LIFE is immense, intense, introspective, and individually personal, all while consistently raising the hairs on goosebumps. Kelly Clarkson has definitely come into her own. In her recent interviews she said “This isn’t a record I could have made at the age of 20," ...[it's a] "grown-ass woman’s record.” "This is a record you make when you’ve lived.” Well, the listening is finished and going on the second run through, it is clearly evident that Kelly has indeed accomplished what she set out to do. Until this album, my favorite album of hers was the fun and powerful WRAPPED IN RED album, her wildly successful and rollicking Christmas treat from a few years back, otherwise she has been keenly interesting but not enough to keep me purchasing her albums. After her recent live dates on the Today show, that changed. And I am happy to say this wonderful album is all it was promised and cracked up to be! It has a lot of punch, tons of soul, a good dash of R&B and a sprinkling of urban pop, just enough to make it both current and retro enough to liven up the boomer's musical desires. Musical Highlights: Heat is everything implied by the title, wow! Whole Lotta Woman props Kelly up in front of Earth Wind & Fire's wind, and she kills on this one, stand back and watch her belt it as big as Texas Medicine let's Kelly invoke her inner Whitney while maintaining a modern approach. I Don't Think About You can be interpreted two ways, as a romance in the ditch break-up song, or probably more true to life, Kelly's Sayonara Baby to RCA and Davis, this isn't a sad break-up song, it growls with underlying relief and provides a showstopper vehicle for her vocal range. Slow Dance is intense, burning, and features one hot searing guitar solo; this song and the fiery Heat might be the two best cookers on this album! Go High ends the album on Kelly's invocation of Michelle Obama, inspired by “When they go low, we go high”. When this finishes you realize that Kelly Clarkson has actually redefined and updated the modern R&B sound, because this album draws from the wellspring of classic soul while sewing it together with the freshest sounding urban pop thread and cutting it with Nashville scissors. Kelly has created an album using the finest elements of The Three Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; she has created a lifetime in one album, a howling and scorching I Will Not Go Quietly testament to her talent. This is sure to be considered her masterpiece or magnum opus in due time. Listen and enjoy the goosebumps!

I love Kelly Clarkson. Nice CD for my collection

EPIC! She said this is the record she's waited all these years to make. The wait is over and we are very, very lucky. This is retro-neo pop, soul, dance, and everything else in the mix, but totally relevant today. Love the lyrics , music (horns too!), vocals- those vocals SOARRRRRR! People gonna be wishing they had this at the beach or by the pool this past summer. I think they'll still be listening to it next summer. Only suggestion: wish 'Move Me' were longer with a second go round of that soaring verse and vocals. BEST vocalist on the planet! And, I'm a fan that doesn't listen to tons of pop, but a great record is just that, great. Kelly loves a lot of artists that I do like Patty Griffin, Ryan Adams, etc... Love her covers. She needs to cover 'Ain't No Little Girl' by Kasey Chambers. I think she could do what Whitney did with Dolly's 'I Will Always Love You' with that song. No kidding. It is a POWER song. Her voice on that song would equal MEGA hit.

Wow! I pre-ordered it (which has never worked out for me) and have not stopped listening since. The more I listen to it, the better it seems to get. Even songs I did not care for at first, like Move You, I now am enjoying it just as much as all else. This is my first Clarkson album, outside her greatest hits and from the reviews this is quite a departure. I am glad it is a departure, it is a really good album!! There really is not a clunker in the bunch and the only one that comes close is "Go High", but I don't lean towards message songs. The more you listen, songs like "Medicine", "Would You Call That Love" and "Meaning of Life" will sound better and better. I am not sure what other Kelly Clarkson albums were like, but this one is a real winner! I would highly recommend!!

I first became interested in Kelly Clarkson’s music around 2004 when I was stationed in California through the navy with the Breakaway song. One of the other songs that I greatly enjoy by her is the Catch My Breath song. In the Meaning of Life Collection Kelly Clarkson creates a memorable blend of soul and dance pop songs with such melodies as Move You, Love So Soft, Heat etc. This is one of the collections where I would keep an open mind to listen to every song in this collection that is released as a video on youtube because of the creativity and heartfelt energy in the Meaning of Life.

This album speaks to Kelly's roots as a soul singer, and many of the songs are a nod to the artistic influences that helped her create her sound and style. There is no question Kelly is an amazing singer and has talent rarely found in the music world today. "Move you" is an astounding example of her talent, and absolutely delivers in every way it should, ironically fulfilling the "I want to move you like that" plea in ways that will probably make listeners wish they could move people like she undoubtedly will with her song. "Love so soft", the other song selected for early release, is classic Kelly, with enough of a modern, refreshing twist that it will keep listeners from feeling deja vu. These two are arguably the best on the album, which makes sense since they were chosen to showcase. I do wish the album intro was a full song, as it left me wanting much more. Some songs, however, fell flat for me (no pun intended). "Go High" has awkward editing that makes me wonder if she's a victim of snipped overlays of her own voice or if her producers used an auto-tuner, although she has proven over again that she doesn't need one. Additionally, my initial impression is that many of the faster songs are sung full throttle, and this leaves the unfortunate impression that she is shouting some songs on the album instead of using dynamics to create emotion. Others, like Don't Be Cruel, Slow Dance, Don't you pretend, and I Don't Think About You are refreshing ballads that deliver as expected. Some people may wish to know that this album has no F-bombs but several minor swear words, some predominantly in the chorus, and an S-word thrown into the one ballad that has no provided lyrics (I Don't Think About You). Otherwise, the lyrical contents are generally "safe" for most listeners. Overall, most of the album is exactly what we would expect from Kelly. While a few considerations kept me from awarding a full five stars, it is still an album from a powerhouse vocalist who ultimately delivers. Recommended.

I recieved the album with the condition the seller promised and it arrived earlier than expected. I thank the seller. And this is not the first time i bought an album from them. Great seller indeed. And i love Kelly Clarkson. I have wanted to buy this album for so long. Finally i did. Will listen to it from start to finish.

I won't attempt to write anything nearly as in-depth as the other reviewers. I knew that this was going to be a soul album with the very real possibility that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as her other albums. This one will definitely take more time to grow on me, as it's just not my favorite style of music, but Kelly Clarkson is definitely one of my favorite singers. My 2 favorite tracks are "Would You Call That Love" and "I Don't Think About You". But artistically she sounds great, and so it wouldn't be fair for me to give the album anything less than 5 stars. On a humorous note... The photo reminds me of of the commercial where a guy sticks a q-tip in his ear & screams in pain...

レーベルを移った上での本アルバムは、彼女のidol時代を彷彿とさせる方向へと回帰した印象を抱きます。 本アルバム以前の「stronger」等も素晴らしい出来でしたが、本アルバムは彼女がより活き活きと無理なく歌えているからか、さらに素晴らしい出来に感じます。 このことは、本アルバム収録曲のライブパフォーマンスを観ることで、より一層実感できます。 idolで優勝すること自体が非常に困難ですが、優勝したからといっても歌手として成功できるとは限らないのが音楽業界です。現にidol出身者で、今も第一線にて活躍する歌手はあまり多くありません。 そうしたidol出身者として現在も活躍する歌手の中でも、彼女はトップクラス、別格の実力を持っています。 本アルバムは、そうした彼女の実力を感じることのできる、素晴らしいものです。

Merci

8 albums later and OMG! Kelly Clarkson is still around? Who ever thought of that? Well she has taken many directions and many different approaches to music from the pop sound in her first album to the more pop-rock album in her next releases, some country duets up to Christmas music it just seemed about time to have her soul album. Kelly has always said this is the album she wanted to make and sure it does. From Love So Soft to the anthemic Whole Lotta Woman to the slow paced Slow Dance Kelly give us all the soul we need. I think is the best album of her career so far. Grammy nominations I am looking at you.

Best album ever!

Über nicht mehr und nicht weniger als den "Sinn des Lebens", wie "Meaning Of Life" übersetzt heißt, singt Kelly Clarkson auf ihrem neusten Studioalbum. Für sich selbst hat sie diesen Sinn nun gefunden: Nach dem Sieg bei American Idol vor 15 Jahren erhielt sie einen riesigen Plattenvertrag mit Sony, der bis ins Jahr 2016 andauerte und von Kelly nicht selten als "Arrangierte Ehe" bezeichnet wurde – bezogen auf den deutlichen Einfluss, den man dort auf ihre Musik nahm und ihre dadurch sehr eingeschränkte künstlerische Freiheit. Im Jahr 2016 schließlich war der Vertrag beendet und Kelly konnte zum ersten Mal selbst bestimmen, wo und mit wem sie musikalisch zusammenarbeiten wollte. Sie landete schließlich beim Label Atlantic und stellte sich dort ein Team zusammen, mit dem sie endlich das Album aufnehmen wollte, von dem sie, wie sie sagt, schon seit ihrer Kindheit träumt. Mit "Meaning Of Life" beginnt eine neue Ära in der Karriere von Kelly Clarkson: Zwar immer noch Pop, dominieren jetzt aber Soul- und Urban-Elemente ihren Sound. Und im Mittelpunkt steht ganz klar Kellys unvergleichliche Stimme, die zweifelsfrei zu den besten im Musikbusiness gehört. Ihre Stimme und der ganze Sound zeigen Ecken und Kanten und wissen sowohl bei schnellen Songs wie "Heat" und "Medicine" als auch bei langsameren Stücken wie "Cruel" und "Slow Dance" zu überzeugen. Mein Highlight bisher ist die wundervolle, vom Piano dominierte Ballade "I Don't Think About You", in der Kelly ihr wohl größtes Talent von der besten Seite zeigt: Gefühl. It used to bother me Thought I could never leave After all that I've been through, nothin' left to prove ... singt Kelly in "I Don't Think About You" und macht damit die Quintessenz des Albums deutlich: Sie braucht niemandem mehr etwas zu beweisen. Sie und ihr ganzer Sound versuchen nie, jedem zu gefallen. Sie drängen sich nicht auf, so wie die Mainstream-Pop-Musik aus dem Radio, die sagt: Hey, ich muss jedem gefallen! Nein, man hört Kelly einfach an, dass sie liebt, was sie da tut. Und ob man sich als Hörer darauf einlassen und mit jedem Hören noch etwas tiefer in den wundervollen Sound von "Meaning Of Life" eintauchen will, bleibt jedem selbst überlassen. Ich kann nur sagen: Es lohnt sich!