Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

With all the buzz about AMERICAN IDOL Season Two, and the singles from almost tied two finalists Clay Aiken and winner Ruben Studdard being released on 06/10/03, last year's ORIGINAL AMERICAN IDOL, Kelly Clarkson, released her Debut Album, "Thankful" with probably less notice than it would have received at another time. I'll be the first to say that I'm in no way, shape or form a pop music fan. I'll also admit that MY guilty pleasure is being an AMERICAN IDOL junkie! I watched Season One and Season Two religiously and sat on the phone hitting redial so I could vote for the person I thought should win. Maybe it's the music critic in me, but I've been fascinated with this show since day one and it's the only Reality TV show I've ever watched. My pick from Season One, Kelly Clarkson, walked away with the title and the record deal and her album is pretty damn amazing. (My favorite from Season 2 came in second, but I'm still rooting for Clay to climb the charts!)

"Thankful" holds more than a few surprises, including the fact that Kelly wrote four songs on the album, one of which features Tamyra Gray (also a writer on the song) the biggest shock of Season One when she was voted off before the bitter end. Another surprise is Clarkson's voice, which was amazing to begin with, and how much better she sounds now. Since I've seen her on several different talk shows, etc., it's not the studio mix that's enhancing her voice, it's definitely her. Of course having the right mix of songs can make or break an album and this album has it all. I'm so glad that the producers didn't let her fall into one groove and end up with the songs all sounding the same. And damn this girl has an awesome voice! It doesn't matter what kind of song she's singing, it soars and croons and hits notes I never knew were in her range! Even the generic songs written for whoever won Season One ("A Moment Like This" and "Before Your Love") Kelly has now made her own and they actually sound really great. These are the bonus tracks on the album.

The CD opens with "The Trouble With Love Is," a bluesy, soulful song that really showcases Clarkson's voice without a lot of backing instrumentals or vocals until the chorus and it fits her voice well. "Miss Independent," her #1 single, is full of attitude and vocal control. She only lets her full voice out on the chorus for emphasis while the verses are quiet - like a coiled snake! Kelly has songwriting credit on both of these songs and I'm totally impressed by both of them.

"Low" reminds me of a country pop cross-over song from somebody like Shania Twain except the vocals are better. I expected to hear a little country flavor hear and there since Kelly is from Texas, but that's all it is - a little flavor. This is actually a cool song. Diane Warren penned the next song, "Some Kind of Miracle," which pretty much guarantees it will be a hit. I was a little surprised at the direction this song goes in though. It's a beautiful song, but it's hard to pin down. It's very slow, a little gospel, a little soul, definitely a showcase for Clarkson's voice and that's about all I can think of to describe it. "What's Up Lonely" goes off in another direction with a noticeable beat, soul groove and scratching and electronic music backing the vocals.

The next song, "Just Missed The Train," reminds me of the original songs LeAnn Rimes wrote for the movie "Coyote Ugly." It doesn't sound like them, but it's full of exhuberance, a good melody, a touch of country pop and a fabulous showcase for Clarkson's voice. It's also a more uptempo song, which this album needs at this point. "Beautiful Disaster" is a medium paced pop song that wouldn't amount to much without Kelly's voice and emotion.

"You Thought Wrong" (Featuring Tamyra Gray) and penned by Clarkson, Gray, Harvey Mason, Jr., Damon Thomas and Kenneth Edmonds (whew, that's a crew!), is a way awesome song These two are right up there with some of the best girl teams from the past year or two, including Gwen Stefani with Eve, the whole crew from "Lady Marmalade" and I can't think of other specific names at the moment. It's actually kind of a rock out song in places and you can tell they had a blast making this track.

"Thankful" was also penned by Clarkson and others and has a very definite Gospel sound. You can tell she's singing from her heart and her voice is all up and down the scale. It's a real "let her hair down" song and you just get it. The last song, "Anytime," is one of my favorites from this album. I guess you would call it a pop ballad, but it's a beautiful song with a very strong vocal that builds and builds to the chorus. Kelly Clarkson has the voice to carry it and I think it's the final proof that she can sing just about anything and make it sound fantastic.

I gave the album 4 stars because it's a debut, because it was rushed as much as possible to get it on the street before Season Two was over, because the AMERICAN IDOL tour and tons of personal appearances took up about 3 months, PLUS Kelly made a movie with Justin Guarini that comes to theaters 06/13/03. I can tell no expense was spared in the production of this album. However, I think there are MUCH greater things to come from Kelly Clarkson in the future, when she has the time to write songs without a team to back her up, time to pick and choose what she plans to put on her next album and time to develop her voice in the direction she wants it to go. Then again, THIS album went Platinum only 5 weeks after it was released, so I say "Great job, Kelly!"