I'll bet you didn't see this coming

I know I have had a tendency to go on lengthy musical rants, and with that you might have a feeling you know what kind of music I tend to listen to...and while for the most part, you're probably right, sometimes I like throwing curveballs. Today is one of those days.

I am going to preface this with the fact that, apart from the absolute walking disasters they show on the audition shows, I don't watch American Idol at all. To some degree, it has to do with the fact that everyone they invite to Hollywood is pretty damned good at signing, and after that point, I have no idea. At all. Consider the fact that I thought Kurt Cobain was a damned good vocalist. I think he was a tonally and emotionally excellent singer... and he used that "I have clearly done a lot of drugs" voice of his to its maximum potential. But I digress before I go too far into a previous rant... can't get boring and repetitive, can I?

However, all that said, if you have somehow managed to avoid looking at the adjacent picture, I'll let you in on a secret: For reasons I'm not sure I totally comprehend, I really seem to quite like Kelly Clarkson.

There, I said it.

Now, in a fruitless attempt to defend myself before I am hunted down and burned at the stake by a mob of Metallica and Black Sabbath fans...

First off? The chick can sing. There's no getting around it. You can say that she's a product of the American Idol publicity machine, but you know what? With the tunes she has put out, they just wouldn't work if she couldn't pull them off vocally. Yes, I realize that I've already said I know nothing about signing, but let's be fair... could you really name one other "Pop Princess" that could even come close to making some of the vocal settings she pulls off regularly work at all? Okay, other than Christina Aguilera... but you saw how she made Pink and Mya (the rest aren't worthy of mention) sound sick on the Lady Marmelade remake? Yeah. And don't think it was by accident that Ms. Spears stayed as far away from that one as possible. For the record, yes Mariah Carey can sing just fine... but I just feel that she kinda belongs in another category... only I can't figure out where... (insert joke about being crazy here)

Again, I digress.

But moving on... yes, our dear Kelly has some pipes on her, and she knows how to use them, but her songs are also imminently sing-along-able. Her new video for "Walk Away" clearly shows that I'm not the only one who thinks so... and now that I've just typed it, the song is also stuck in my head. I guess she just has good songwriters, huh?

Naw, that can't be all there is..... after all, she's awfully cute, too. That girl-next-door kinda charm likely helps her a lot, too.

Okay, well maybe I have no idea why, but for whatever reason, Kelly Clarkson always wins the "Clicker Challenge"... let me explain: I am an obsessive channel flipper, be it on TV or the radio, but somehow I will always stop for her...

Five hundred and sixty words later, and I still have no idea why...