Usually, when something uses netspeak, I flee in the other direction, especially when it can't get the grammar correct. "Since U Been Gone" should have been one of the victims of my flight. Thankfully, I'm curious enough about Andromeda's Rommie that I watched a music vid with this song and realized I liked it, much to my surprise after I saw the title, which I triple-checked in disbelief.
Kelly Clarkson's energetic young voice is precise and pleasing; she knows how to sing. The upbeat pop rock style she has chosen to produce isn't striking, but it isn't bad, either. Anyone with some experience in listening to pop rock will probably find someone to compare the sound to; it's little more than beat and a slight bit of emphasis. Kelly's voice is the attraction.
Despite using the usual concept of a boyfriend who ditched the song's narrator, "Since U Been Gone" is unusually frank about how idiotic most of those "stupid love song[s]" are. Rather than mope, the narrator is getting on with life. Hey, she made a stupid choice with a jerk boyfriend, but she's grown up from that circumstance. The story's a refreshing Breakaway from the too-popular complaining.
That mature handling of the topic with clean lyrics is refreshing. Kelly Clarkson even avoids the potentially offensive "shut up," the narrator singing "shut your mouth" with a tone that clearly portrays her frustration without the rude language. Her choice of clean lyrics sounds promising for the contents of the rest of Breakaway.
Overall, Clarkson's refreshingly skilled voice and decent lyrics bring "Since U Been Gone" above the "mediocre" rating into the "pretty good" range, in my opinion, and the lack of any annoying layers to the music keep it there.
Music: 3/5
Voice: 4/5
Overall: 7/10
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