Kelly Clarkson won the debut season of American Idol way back in 2002, and she is the most successful singer the show has yet produced. All I Ever Wanted is her fourth album, and has already been a huge hit all around the world. With her trademark soaring vocals, Clarkson has become the queen of the pop anthem.

Each track on the new album has been polished and buffed into a piece of FM radio perfection. Fine for a single perhaps, but taken together the songs feel terribly formulaic. Each is a gob of thickly textured pop syrup, climaxing with Clarkson’s signature wail. And without her huge voice, these songs would amount to very little. Certainly there is nothing in the lyrics to inspire, they all seem to be either “I wish I was with you” or “I’m so glad I’m with you”. 14 tracks of this stuff is pretty tedious.

This may all seem a bit harsh - after all, it’s just pop music. It sounds good, it’s fun to dance to, so what’s the problem? Well, pop music should be fun, sure, but it can be a whole lot more too. Listen to the latest Pink or Lily Allen to see what I mean. Even Britney has more depth than this. Clarkson has a great voice, it’s just a shame she has nothing to say.

I usually try to finish with some kind of spiritual reflection, but All I Ever Wanted is such a vacuum that I’m struggling. The best I can come up with is something from Ecclesiastes,

“All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”