2004年年底,凯莉完成了她让歌迷们企盼许久的第二张专辑“Breakaway”,专辑发行首周就获得全美专辑榜季军。早在专辑推出前几个月,由John Shanks(Sheryl Crow、Alanis Morissette制作人)制作的同名单曲“Breakaway”(这首也出现在电影“麻雀变公主2:皇家有约(The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement)”里的歌曲还有加拿大摇滚酷妹艾薇儿参与创作)一推出就获得Billboard单曲榜第六名,还成为美国电台流行类点播冠军歌曲,接着,专辑发行时真正首支单曲“Since U Been Gone”现在狂窜Top 20,目前还在上升中,更造成在全美电台掀起巨大震撼,Billboard杂志也相当推荐这首歌曲:“这首歌曲完美展现出凯莉的声音,歌曲中有着鲜明的节奏,还有可以充分刺激你的喇叭的力道,以及锐利又强势的乐句-这是凯莉朝向成为更自信、更成熟的歌手所迈进的一大步。”凯莉形容“Since U Been Gone”这首在这张专辑中唯一一首不是在洛杉矶录成的歌曲是首“强力劲曲”:“我到Max Martin在瑞典的录音室录制这首歌,我在那边跟Max和这首歌的另一位作者Lukasz Gottwald一起录。本来我第一次听到这首歌的时候,我觉得听起来太过流行,所以我就问他们说我们可不可以让这首歌更摇滚一点,我们就加了一些比较重的吉他和鼓,结果就成了现在这样听起来更具爆炸性的感觉。”
“我在第二张专辑的制作过程中有更多的亲身参与经验,”凯莉表示,“我知道我要什么,我也很清楚要跟谁合作。”凯莉在这张专辑里参与了六首歌曲的创作,其中包括和Max Martin以及Lukasz Gottwald合写的“Behind These Hazel Eyes”,以及与前伊凡塞斯(Evanescence)吉他手Ben Moody和David Hodges共同创作的“Because Of You”和”Addicted”, “Because of You”感人肺腑的歌词和浓郁唱腔使这首歌从一开始就牵动听者心灵,让歌迷喜爱不已。此外,她还选了六首由Kara Dioguardi(多次和安立奎、马克安东尼合作,艾希莉的”Pieces Of Me”是最近代表作)参与谱写的歌曲,包括“Gone”、“You Found Me”、”I Hate Myself For Losing You”等等。“Kara是我认识的最优秀的创作者之一。”凯莉表示,“她是位充满热情和感情的创作者。”Kara和John Shanks合写的“Gone”是首节奏活跃强烈的作品:“这首歌很适合现场演唱。另外我也很喜欢“You Found Me”,因为这是专辑中比较快乐一点的歌,其他歌曲调性都比较暗一点。”
凯莉和Kara以及Clif Mahness合写了“Hear Me”:““Hear Me”代表我想要大家从我这张专辑里得到的讯息,有时候我很希望我的声音能被大家听进去。”曾为Clif Magness在艾薇儿首张专辑制作”Losing Grip”、”Unwanted”等摇滚劲曲,继为Kelly首张大碟制作出超动听忬情曲”Just Missed The Train”,又再度与Kelly合作新专辑。凯莉解释道,“我不介意你是否同意我的观点或者你在不在意我说的话,我只希望你能听我表达,全心全意听我的声音。我写这首歌是想表现出当你置身群众中,你掏心挖肺地大叫,但是没有半个人愿意听你的那种感觉。你好像是个隐形人,有时候我就会有这样的感觉,听这首歌对我来说很有心理治疗的效果。我想大家对这首歌都会有些共鸣。”
此外,加拿大创作才女香岱儿(Chantal Kreviazuk)和摇滚乐团Our Lady Peace乐团主唱老公Raine Maida也继艾薇儿专辑后再度携手为凯莉作嫁,制作了”Where Is Your Heart”和”Walk Away”两首风格迥异的作品,前者带来女性的摇滚柔情,后者则有俏皮的味道,也让人震惊凯莉嗓音的多变和声音的质量。
专辑以“Beautiful Disaster”这首曾经出现在凯莉第一张专辑里的歌曲的现场演唱版作为结尾:“这首歌的歌词非常美,”凯莉表示,“作者Matthew Wilder和我想要做一个只有钢琴伴奏的版本,我们每次在演唱会里都是这样表演,观众们都很喜欢,所以我想在这张专辑里把现场演唱版收进来可以让一些没有机会参加我现场演唱会的歌迷感受一下这样的感觉。”
凯莉已在她两张呈现出多元风格的专辑中展现出她饱含灵性的唱腔,她也已和许多当代最顶尖的创作者合作过。凯莉除了已在充满个性的R&B以及摇滚曲风作品方面有所发挥,她对于其他领域像是乡村音乐或甚至是百老汇舞台剧等等,也都跃跃欲试:“或许有一天我写的或是我唱的歌会打动某个人的心,这样就很值得了。乾嘛要画地自限只专注于某种风格?我喜欢所有各式各样类型的音乐!”
“我并不崇尚光鲜亮丽的生活,但是我的企图心很强,我很希望能够打进国际市场,在我面前还有很多事要做,我很感激能够得到这样的机会。这一切好像都来得好快,让我几乎很难停下脚步想太多其他事情。目前我对于能够到达这个地步并且能以每天唱歌做为我的工作,我觉得很开心。我就知道,以前我在看‘大白鲨’的时候,我就知道我不适合做海洋生态学家!”
Kelly Clarkson was the first American Idol winner and the first vocalist to achieve success, but her 2003 debut, Thankful, didn't completely define her outside of the parameters of the show. While the dance-pop and adult contemporary ballads on that record were fresher than the music on AmIdol, Clarkson still hadn't escaped the show's shadow entirely: since it was a hit so close to her time on TV, it was easy to pigeonhole her as simply a creation of television, not a popular singer in her own right. So, her second album, Breakaway, released late in 2004, was a pivotal moment for her, a chance to prove that she was not a one-hit wonder, a chance to prove that she could have a real, vibrant career. Happily, Breakaway delivers on that promise. This time around, the dance-pop elements have been almost entirely stripped away, and the record instead is a rock-influenced, MOR pop affair, not entirely dissimilar to Ashlee Simpson's Autobiography, only a little bit smoother and not as heavy on guitars. Since Clarkson is a better singer than Simpson — not only does she possess more chops, but she has more on-record charisma — she can sell the material even when the slow tempos in the middle of record drag its momentum; she prevents the songs from sounding too samey. While there may be one too many ballads here, they often are very good and sometimes are excellent, like the light, layered, yearning title tune. Clarkson may be a fine ballad singer, but what gives Breakaway its spine are the driving, anthemic pop tunes like "Since U Been Gone," "Walk Away," and "You Found Me." These are the numbers that sound simultaneously mainstream and youthful, which is a hard trick to pull off, and they are the tracks that illustrate that Kelly Clarkson is a rare thing in the 2000s: a pop singer who's neither hip nor square, just solidly and enjoyably in the mainstream. After a bunch of rather blah mainstream pop albums, including a glut of half-baked AmIdol projects, this is a nice, low-key relief.