Over a career that has spanned 21 years, Kelly Clarkson has delivered many anthems and empowering lyrical moments that have cemented her as a pop icon. Now as she reaches her tenth studio album, you would start to assume that we’ve heard the best already, especially with albums like “Breakaway”, “All I Ever Wanted” and “Stronger” in her catalogue, but she’s just proved you wrong.
“chemistry” is Kelly Clarkson’s most personal and empowering record to-date. It’s an album that explores the multi-faceted emotions of chemistry with someone. Following the journey of a relationship it reflects on the lust, the love, the heartbreak, the anger, as well as the rediscovery of self-worth and love. You really experience all of the emotions throughout the record with her, and the thing you are left with is an understanding of growth. That’s what this record is really about. It’s about adaption, experience, and growth.
She returns to her pop-rock roots on this album, whilst also harbouring in a mature perspective that brings the record together. There’s soul, pop, rock, country, and dance elements, and whilst that may sound a little chaotic and all over the place, it’s actually brought together in a very cohesive manner. From start to finish you will find yourself transfixed by her lyricism and the heavy emotion that guides you through each track. The best way to describe it is that it’s a journey album.
At the heart of the record is Kelly’s best lyricism yet, and I thought I would highlight my favourite lyrical moments from each track on the album for you to also obsess over. Check it out;
- skip this part
“If I could escape all this hurt and this pain, oh, I would”
“I’d like to skip this part. Cuts you so deep when it feels like the end”
2. mine
“I hope one day someone will take your heart and hold it tight. Make you feel like you’re invincible deep inside. And right when you think that it’s perfect, they cross a line. And steal your shine like you did mine”
3. high road
“When I was young, my mother showed me to become strong, you had to only; cover your fears, don’t show your lonely, put others first before your own needs”
4. me
“Don’t need to need somebody, when I got me”
“Too many times you questioned what were my intentions. I never gave you reasons, you’re the one with secrets”
“I bet you feel the absence of my love every night. There’s no one else, you are the reason I said goodbye”
5. down to you
“I tried to be your friend. I won’t make that mistake again”
6. chemistry
“I can’t help but want you, help but love you. Help me, someone erase my heart“
“I stay away ’cause ’round you, my heart breaks”
7. favorite kind of high
“When you’re in the room, all I feel is you”
“Take me home tonight, kiss me how you like. I’ve been waitin’ for you”
8. magic
“Cause magic takes time. And I’ve got my sights, and they’re set on you”
“You are worth the road to maybe”
“With your eyes on me, I start to tremble. Always you, has been forever”
9. lighthouse
“I need a do-over, how did we end up this way? I’m so confused, lover, did I mistake love and pain?”
“What good’s a lighthouse when the light is burnin’ out?”
“It’s such a shame when your wants and needs, they don’t align”
10. rock hudson
“You were my Rock Hudson. It was real, but it wasn’t”
“What good’s a promise if you’re never really honest?”
“By the way, piece by piece, I found out my hero’s me”
11. my mistake
“Must’ve been my mistake. Swore I heard you say ’til your dyin’ day, you would love me always”
12. red flag collector
“Drag my name ’round town, I don’t mind, I changed it anyway”
“Did you know there’s only one truth? And in the end you have to live with what you do”
13. i hate love (feat. Steve Martin)
“I hate love, And “The Notebook” lied. ”It’s Complicated” is more like what happens. So you can keep Gosling and I’ll take Steve Martin”
14. that’s right (feat. Sheila E)
“I like the ocean, that’s right. I sink my toes in, that’s right. The water’s comin’ tonight. I’ll let you go with the tide”
BLEACHED 