Kelly Clarkson marries fun melodies and heart-wrenching lyrics on her new album Chemistry

25:00Asteroid City, Kelly Clarkson's new album and Canada's Eras Tour snub

On the surface, Kelly Clarkson's new album, Chemistry, is the latest installment in a string of divorce-centric albums from some of the top women in music — from Adele's 30, to Kacey Musgraves' Star-Crossed and The Chicks' Gaslighter.

But as today's panelists on Commotion will tell you, Clarkson's album is so much more.

For this week's wrap panel, culture critic Amil Niazi, comedian James Mullinger and music critic Lindsay Zoladz review what the long-anticipated record is really about, where it fits in the history of divorce albums, and what it says about who Kelly Clarkson is today.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion,  where the panel discusses Wes Anderson's new film Asteroid City and Canada being left off of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour schedule, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: It is Kelly Clarkson Day, to those who celebrate — which is me. I am "those who celebrate." Kelly Clarkson is back with a brand new album. It's called Chemistry. It's a lot about her relationship to producer Brandon Blackstock and the end of their seven-year marriage. Lindsay, Kelly has called this album "a relationship album," rather than "a divorce album." How does that story unfold over the record?

Lindsay: So, you know, it kind of is a divorce album…. It unfolds in pieces. I think when we hear the phrase "divorce album," I think you think of this pathos and "however much pain you can wrench out of this, the better." And we know Kelly Clarkson from a lot of breakup anthems, [like]  Since U Been Gone. I think there's an expectation of that. Something about this record that I find interesting is I think it's the most fun when it's a little more light and playful. Like, she's got Steve Martin on banjo on the track [I Hate Love]. We're not getting weepy Adele with Steve Martin on the song.

WATCH | Kelly Clarkson performs i hate love, live at The Belasco Theater:

Elamin: She has a fun line in the song where she says, "You can keep Gosling and I'll take Steve Martin," who's of course also playing the banjo on that song. She's having so much fun with it.

Lindsay: Yeah. So I'm here for Kelly having fun. There are a couple of good ballads and more soul-wrenching moments on the record, but it's not really like an Adele record. I think there's an expectation of Adele's divorce album, [which] was like, "woah."

WATCH | Adele opens up about 30, divorce and her struggle with fame on Q with Tom Power:

Elamin: [Adele's album 30 was like] "this is a Capital-D divorce album." And this is not quite that. Amil, how do you feel about the album?

Amil: I love it. I think it's classic Kelly. She's so good at anthems, and she seems to really be channeling that vibe — that Since U Been Gone. It's like the saddest song you can play at a party, which is absolutely 100 per cent my vibe all the time…. You mentioned, Elamin, off the top before people were listening that you want to hear a country album from her. And I just love her at her most pop. I feel like this is very, very Kelly Clarkson, top of the pops, and I'm so into it.

WATCH | Official video for Since U Been Gone:

Elamin: Listen, it's a "yes, and." It's a pop album, and also please, Kelly, at a certain point please cut eight country songs because it's time. That voice would work so well for it. James, Kelly says divorce is this heavy thing to sing about, but she also braces it with these sort of bright pop melodies. It's this fun kind of contrast there. Does that work for you?

James: Yeah, definitely. It's a fun pop album. The songs sound like you've actually heard them a million times before; they're familiar. When she said a few months ago that she considered actually shelving this album because it was so heart-wrenching to write, I think we did all expect it to be quite dark. And granted, the lyrics are very dark: "I hate love," and "Beatin' my head against a wall," and "The Notebook lied" — the lyrics feel quite dark, but nothing about the music is. And Steve Martin on banjo is just the greatest thing. It made me so happy. And I felt like that line that you quoted, "You can keep Gosling and I'll take Steve Martin" — that is going to overtake Shania Twain's "So you're Brad Pitt…." That is now the greatest.

I think basically what we've learned from this is that divorce is good for music — just as it's good for a lot of things. I mean, right now I'm 45. Everyone I know seems to be getting divorced. Kelly is 41. Every comedian I know is doing divorce material. Divorce is great for artistry — and more albums need Steve Martin on banjo.

Elamin: I will say, it's been a big divorce moment in music, Lindsay. Over the past few years, we've kind of rewritten the divorce album narrative, right? Kacey Musgraves has had a beautiful divorce album. There was Adele, Miley Cyrus. For my money, Kelsea Ballerini had the most incredible divorce EP earlier this year. And this is a genre that's usually dominated by men, right? We think of maybe Marvin Gaye, or Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen — but it feels like that page has turned; a lot of women are writing incredible divorce albums at this moment. What do you make of this moment?

Lindsay: I mean, I think it's just there are more prominent female artists across every genre in some sense, and they're sort of aging into this maturity. As much as I said this is a divorce album, I think a lot of the ones you mentioned too are just like a "woman-in-her-thirties-and-forties" album, and we're now sort of expanding the zone in which we will actually listen to women telling their stories a bit, and letting them grow on the record. And I think that's refreshing, and that's a bit what is behind this seeming boom of the so-called divorce album.

Elamin: Amil, I'm really interested in Kelly Clarkson's fame in general, because for the past couple of years, she's sort of turned an entirely new page in terms of how we know her. Right? We have the talk show. We also have Kellyoke — which is when Kelly Clarkson performs a cover of a song, and she does it so perfectly — which is just dominating all my YouTube all the time…. It's been about 20 years since she won American Idol. How has she managed to maintain this career and this relevancy, do you think?

WATCH | Kelly Clarkson covers Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish:

Amil: I think Kelly Clarkson is America's sweetheart. To me, she is the only true American Idol winner.

Elamin: OK. Wow. OK, continue. Sorry.

Amil: No disrespect to like, Jennifer Hudson —

Elamin: To Carrie Underwood?

Amil: — oh, sure. Carrie Underwood too. Where has she been?

Lindsay: Woah.

Amil: We don't have enough time on this show for that. But I really do think that we fell in love with her. She didn't look like a pop star; she's never really looked like a pop star, and then she's embraced it, and she's allowed us to embrace the very different sides of what make her interesting and relevant and unique as an artist. And then I think she's been so vulnerable through this process of everything from body image to romance, and she's brought us along for the ride. Millennials are turning 40. They're hitting their divorce era. We've sort of grown up with Kelly. She has been a mirror of our lives. And so to be in this moment with her and for her to bring us into this very intimate space, I just think is so reflective of who she is as a pop star and why she's had such lasting relevance.

Elamin: So you think there's sort of a continuation to you, Amil, of the thread that she's started. She's been singing these deeply vulnerable songs from the very beginning. I think of the first time just tearing up hearing Because Of You and just being like, "Oh my God, this song will destroy you any day of the week." And then there is this continuation of this thread of vulnerability. Do you think it's changed in any way, Amil? I guess there's a sense of maturity here.

Amil: Oh, absolutely. I really do think with the talk show especially, she has entered a different era. And I think it can be a really tricky area. As Lindsay mentioned, we haven't always been super receptive as a society to aging women — to women in their 30s and 40s who are suddenly not, and I'm not saying this personally, but sexually desirable in the same way; they're not an ingénue. That can be a very tricky thing to mature into, and to extend as far as your career goes. The fact that she has done that, and remained interesting and relevant, I think is really important. It's showing other pop stars how you can have a long career, how you can embrace all of these different life changes and remain steadfast in your career. I think that's a really hard thing to do, and Kelly's showing an amazing example of it.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show, where the panel discusses Wes Anderson's new film Asteroid City and Canada being left off of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour schedule, on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden.