Torture! Rapture!

Will update this spot with my column when it runs, either tomorrow or sometime next week. May not update again till then.

Anyway, wanted to post some Kelly C musings here from the teenpop thread but clean 'em up a bit.

So I'm doing some playing around with an online keyboard and I realize something interesting: last year we talked a lot about the high E-flat, which was sort of the money note -- usually a bit higher than the crucial note in a given song -- that the performers hit when it's time to crank up a notch. (I forget whether or not Lindsay goes a little higher during the imperceptible key change in "Live for the Day.") The Veronicas hit it twice in "4ever," including demolishing it once toward the end, Ashlee hits it for the first "la" in "La La," Lillix just barely gets to it (or maybe the D or D-flat?) on "Sweet Temptation."

Well, I started checking out some of Kelly Clarkson's new tunes and guess what. First of all, the "money note" is also usually the note hanging on the hook a-hyuk (and there are plenty of hooks on this record, no idea what y'all are talking about). Example: in former Max/Luke tracks, the performer will hit the money note on their WAY to the hook note ("Since U Been Gone" has four money notes above the hook note on "goooooooone") -- this is where the highest note usually happens, on its way to a lower, more comfortable note. By comparison, "Hole" has a chorus with essentially a one-note hook: "There's a hole! Inside of me!" Ditto "Judas," does the same thing with a two-note melody that lets the money note do the heavy lifting: "I didn't KNOW! I didn't KNOW! I couldn't SEE! I couldn't SEE!" and on "Haunted" she does three notes but lands hard on the high D, esp. when it comes time to draw it out: "Wheeeeere aaaaaare yoooou?" The lowest note is still a high B, a half step lower than the "hook note" in "Since U Been Gone" (D-flat is the money note in that one).

Generally, the money note/hook notes on My December are REALLY high. "Hole" is D ("There's a hole!"), "Judas" is D-flat ("I didn't know! I didn't know!"), and "Haunted" is D ("WHERE are you"). This is like writing entire songs consisting of that one climactic part of "4ever" throughout the album -- "Haunted" in particular is kinda punishing, which might be one reason why it stands out to me as the point where I really start to lose it a little. Doesn't help that it's followed by what might be the worst song on the album, "Be Still."

So the hooks are there, but they're also very draining. They aren't as skillfully constructed as a typical Max/Luke hook, which has the tension/release pleasure center-pushers down to a science. Or a math. They're a little clumsy, and they just blow the roof off of every single goddamn song. Whcih, again, is part of what I LIKE about this album, I wish she'd followed it through, but as is there's stuff like "Be Still" and "Yeah" and "How I Feel" trying to weirdly take things down a notch, which doesn't suit the momentum at all. You start to realize that the whole thing's a little exhausting.

EDIT: I totally skipped "Never Again"! Which is also a three-note hook that lands hard on the highest note -- a D, which ties it for highest note along with "Hole" and "Haunted." Except in "Never Again" Kelly does a few fake-outs and goes to the lower D, jumps down an octave semi-ominously, whereas in the other two it's all high D all the time.

EDIT 2: Well shit, might as well just go through the whole damn album...yes, that is a G-FLAT she is hitting in "Sober," the lowest note in the hook melody being a D. She also hits a big G-flat in "Haunted": "starting to FAAAALLLLLL!" Sort of telling to track how grueling the album is by tracking the high notes -- that's hardly all there is to it, just an interesting angle. I still think the real flaw in the album, such as it is, is not knowing how to pad the climaxes. Let me down gently, as the Ark sez. Makes "Can I Have a Kiss" and "Irvine" beautiful one-two finish, but the misfires feel like you're doing a double feature of Raging Bull and...I dunno, maybe a semi-intense latter-day Mamet flick? Lesser and lower-stakes (but similar) punishing energy, a movie trying but failing to sustain the energy. (Yes, I have now compared My December to Raging Bull and The Passion of the Christ.)

Funny, I think OK Computer is actually a little like this (but doesn't stumble as much), doesn't know quite what to do with its second half after an absolutely perfect sequence up to the "Fitter, Happier" interlude. Excellent songs throughout, and none I plain don't like, and a beautiful penultimate/final track combo, but something just...doesn't...quite...click. Why can't I get this Radiohead/Kelly Clarkson pairing outta my head?? Anyway, on this one "Fitter, Happier" would come between "Judas" and "Haunted."