Kelly Clarkson's 'Stronger': A track-by-track-review, Guys, if you start going out with a girl who tells you how much she loves Kelly Clarkson's latest album, run away. Fast. 

Musically, Stronger finds a solid middle ground between the pop-rock of her early albums and the high-energy dance grooves of 2009's All I Ever Wanted. Vocally, Kelly's never sounded better. And with bonus cuts that include Don't You Wanna Stay and Why Don't You Try, a old-school R&B ballad that lets Kelly unleash her inner Aretha, the deluxe iTunes edition of Stronger is worth the extra couple of bucks.

Here's a track-by-track assessment of the basic version:

Mr. Know It All. "You don't know a thing about me," Kelly sings, practically spitting the words in the face of the person she's singing to, because she clearly thinks he ought to. The march-step rhythm moves as steadily as a work crew slapping down bricks to build a wall of emotional defenses.

What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger). Just in case Kelly didn't belittle Mr. Know It All enough in the first song, telling him, "You know everything about everything, but you don't," now she's back for round two: "The bed feels warmer, sleeping here alone" (Ouch!). Nah, her life doesn't suck without him. What sucks is that she didn't deck him before she left. With a song that would fit with a boxing film's workout montage, she's clearly thinking about it: If she does come back, she'll come back swinging.

Dark Side. This song's music-box intro quickly turns nightmarish, as Kelly sings about place that's not pretty and that few have ever gone. She'll show that dark side to you, lover, but you better promise up front that you can handle it, no matter how bad it is. This could wind up being a favorite songs of psycho girlfriends everywhere, because it's a set-up. She never quite says so, but, given the first two songs, here's how it plays: If you bail before seeing the dark side, she'll tell everybody she knows that you're shallow. If he bails after, she'll tell everybody you're a jerk. Kelly finishes the song in her most siren-like voice, singing, "Don't run away, don't run away." Don't listen to her, guys.

Honestly. Dark Side, Part 2: "Could you love somebody like that?" Kelly wonders, sounding as vulnerable as she possibly can. She'd have you believe you can tell her anything -- judge her, love her, hate her, whatever, just as long as you've got the guts to do it honestly. But everything about this song -- the darkly seething synthesizers, the edge of desperation in Kelly's voice -- suggests we're on shaky emotional terrain here.

You Love Me. This one's got a throbbing '80s groove, like John Waite's study-of-denial Missing You or The Police's relentlessly stalker-ish Every Breath You Take. As for what it's about, that's really a he-said, she-said thing. You can take Kelly at face value when she says, "You said you loved me but that I'm not good enough." Or, if you're the guy she's singing to when she says, "Your love feels different/It's like a blow to the head with your compliments," you may wonder just what you've got to do to keep this woman happy. "You say I'm not good enough," Kelly sings, "but what you really mean is you're not good enough." That's exactly what somebody in this song is doing, I'm just not sure who.

Einstein. Other than the Grass Roots' Two Divided by Love, I've never been much on pop-music math lessons. Still, I admire the sheer audacity it takes to build an En Vogue-style funk-rock tune around the hook "Dumb plus dumb equals you." Once again, the reliability of the narrator is in question, as she sings, "You say I'm crazy, and that we're happy/Is that supposed to comfort me?" Is the guy a lech who flirts with other women in front of her, or is she just loopy nuts? Your guess is as good as mine.

Standing in Front of You. Whew. After Stronger's first six songs, it's merciful relief to hear Kelly assume the role of a comforting lover, gently reassuring the wounded soul before her that "all that you've been missing [is] standing here in front of you." Then again, maybe it's the song she wishes somebody would sing to her.

I Forgive You. Kelly gets some perspective on a bad break-up in this cathartic post-relationship rocker, realizing she'll just be better off admitting that both sides made mistakes, forgiving all the parties involved and moving on with her life. The stacked vocal harmonies on the chorus make this track.

Hello. With its bouncy guitar chords and its hand claps, this rock tune sounds happier than its lyrics, which depict Kelly as feeling alone even when she's not by herself. Vocally, it's a highlight of the album.

The War Is Over. You know the bad thing about relationships on Kelly Clarkson albums? Even when they break up, they never end. Either Kelly lets the memory of the guy live rent-free inside her head, or, as is the case here, the guy keeps after her and she keeps swearing she's walking away, but she never actually leaves. It's like the couples are stuck in some eternal limbo where they're never together but they're never quite free of each other.

Let Me Down. This is kind of a spooky one, with the drums mixed way high, guitar notes echoing between channels, sawtooth synth lines sliding all over the place and minor piano chords dropping in and out. Lyrically, it's the most cynical song on the album, as Kelly sings, "I am too smart to let you in here, but I'm just dumb enough to linger."

You Can't Win. It drives me crazy when critics slag an album for what it isn't rather than writing about what it is. Apparently, Kelly feels the same way, if this song, sung from the perspective of a celebrity who can't seem to make anybody happy, is any indication. And it's got one of my favorite lyrics of the entire album:

Breaking Your Own Heart. If you get the deluxe version of Stronger, you get Don't You Wanna Stay, Kelly's duet with country singer Jason Aldean. If you stick with the basic version, this Howard Benson-produced track is the closest thing you get to the archetypal Kelly Clarkson power ballad.

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Source: Usatoday