Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson (CD, Nov-2004, RCA Records USA)

Kelly Clarkson makes you forget about her mediocre debut Thankful by cranking up the angst. By leveraging production from the likes of Max Martin (Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears) and Ben Moody (Evanescence). The first single Breakaway serves as a proper warm up to a record that is chalk full of angst and emotion. The album came as a shock I'm sure to most fans expecting an American Idol pop sing along. From the slamming drums of Since You've Been Gone to the loneliness of I Hate myself for Losing You we see a Kelly that is much more mature and who bares much more of her soul.

The album has already spawned 3 chart topping singles. Breakaway written by Avril Lavigne came out last summer as the theme for Princess Diaries 2 and refused to leave radio. Soon that was followed by Since You've Been Gone which was Max Martin's return to the production spotlight following the collapse of boy bands and their popularity in the United States. As the charts will show he didn't miss a beat. The song became a chart topper in America during Holidays of 2004. Following Since You've Been Gone was Behind These Hazel Eyes which received many accolades for Kelly being a co-writer on the project and for the songs crossover appeal. All of this has culminated to Breakaway being the fifth-best-selling album of the year, according to SoundScan. It was also just certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and has remained in the top 20 of the Billboard albums chart every week since it was released on November 30, 2004.