My Life Would Suck Without Kelly Clarkson

As anyone who reads anything I write with any regularity knows, I am usually really anti-pop music. I never listen to the radio, especially not the top 40 stations, I think Ryan Seacrest is a really big tool, and the only reason I know who the Jonas Brothers are is because I watch Chelsea Lately.

Obviously, I read my Entertainment Weekly and watch Chelsea, so I'm not totally out of the loop... but my usual answer when someone tries to get me to listen to anything that's been on the Billboard charts lately is to start singing showtunes at the top of my lungs.

However, I have one pop music confession to make, and I'm sick of feeling ashamed of it: I totally love Kelly Clarkson. Now, I have not watched American Idol for one day of my entire life, but I could never stop singing "A Moment Like This"; "Since U Been Gone" is one of the best songs to sing along to, and is also a really good crowd pick me up at weddings and other occasions, despite its angry conceit; "Breakaway" makes you feel 15 again; and "Never Again," despite what the critics think, was a great angry girl anthem.

Now that she's got a new album about to be released, I find myself listening to the radio again, because "My Life Would Suck Without You" is a really fun song. Say what you want about pop music, American Idol, and the like, but you have to admit that every once in a while, a song with straightforward, slightly grammatically incorrect lyrics is really fun to sing along to. I suspect that with its anthemic, retro-Madonna sound, its probably already a huge hit at both gay bars and bar mitzvahs.

"Cuz we belong together now
Forever united here somehow
You got a piece of me
And honestly
My life would suck without you"

I know its trendy to only like indie bands, and pop music is usually relegated to teenagers. But I gotta admit, I have a lot of respect for the girl. She managed to come out of AI alive, and is now on her fourth? fifth? studio album, with most of them selling astronomically well. Her career isn't going anywhere, and neither are her brain cells - as far as we know, she's not in rehab, in a feud with any family members, pregnant, or missing any essential clothing when she leaves the house. The only time I see her in the news is when the story has something to do with her career (as a singer, not a reality star, homemade porn star, or pretend actress). Plus, she can actually sing.

The album comes out on Tuesday... whether the rest of the songs are as much fun remains to be seen, but perhaps the one will be enough for a while.