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<snip> "Really, it's a lot of work to be constantly under the spotlight and in the news and I don't want any of it. Life is difficult enough, you know, and I don't need it to be more difficult," shared Clarkson candidly in an interview with The Star in Barbados recently.

True to her word, Clarkson has not the air of a celebrity about her. In fact, she's disarmingly normal. In the idyllic Caribbean isle to showcase songs from her new album, All I Ever Wanted, the1.6m tall singer chatted easily with fans and reporters at a breakfast meet-and-greet session a day before her scheduled showcase. <snip>

<snip> She may have gotten her start from the juggernaut reality TV programme American Idol after her win in 2002 but [bold] Clarkson has proved that she is much more than a manufactured product. [/bold]

The 27-year-old Texan has demonstrated that she has the chops to steer her own career, from choosing who she wants to manage her to what songs she wants on her album. <snip>

<snip> Asked about the face-off, Clarkson explained that she wasn't "trying to be more rock or less pop"; she just didn't want her albums to all sound alike.

"When you get sent formula songs and tracks, I am like 'Okay I don't want to do the same thing twice'. Who wants every album to sound the same, right?

"Every single album I've done, every song I've done, I've done it my own way. It wasn't just that album ... I think the media just reported it that way for some reason or other," she explained.

All I Ever Wanted is all about variety. While it's still very much a Kelly Clarkson album - ballsy, angry numbers delivered with her signature strong vocals - Clarkson mixes it up and goes a little country, a little punk (Whyyawannabringmedown) and even a little bubblegum pop with I Want You. There are also strong ballads which show a different side of the artiste. <snip>

<snip> "A good song is a good song whether I write it or not. For this record ... I went in and said 'Okay I don't care who wrote what - I want this certain sound.' Anything that didn't work out completely we made more Kelly Clarkson, something I would say," she said, referring more to My Life Would Suck Without You which was lyrically modified to sound like her.

The end product, says Clarkson, is an album she is completely happy with and one she can't wait to go on the road with.

"It's all different flavours of my personality. I grew up listening to lots of different types of music ... from Aerosmith to Pat Benatar and Reba (McEntire) to classical music. My music taste is all over the place and you see these influences in my music," she said.

The album is off to a promising start. Her first single, My Life Would Suck Without You made the biggest leap to number one in the Billboard Hot 100 charts' 50-year history when it debuted at No. 97 and leapt to the top spot within a week. The single has also conquered the British charts making Clarkson the only Idol alumnus to top the Brit charts.

Naturally, Clarkson is ecstatic about the success of her single.But what she's really thankful for is that she's able to do what she loves.

"All I want is to make music that I am proud of. That's really 'all I ever wanted'. People find it hard to believe ... they find it hard to wrap their head around it but that's all I want. I am really very simple." <snip>

<snip> At the Barbados showcase, it was clear that Clarkson was the main draw.

While opening acts Simple Plan and Katy Perry both received huge welcomes, it was the birthday girl who got the party started.

Dressed in a pair of fitted hip-hugging black pants, a studded belt and asymmetrical moss-green T-shirt, Clarkson filled her 45-minute set with old favourites like Walk Away, Behind These Hazel Eyes and Since You've Been Gone (from the album Breakaway), Never Again (My December) and Miss Independant (Thankful) interspersed with songs from her latest album like If I Can't Have You and I Do Not Hook Up and, of course, the current hit single My Life Would Suck Without You.

Clarkson was in her element performing, apart from a minor wardrobe malfunction (nothing major - her T-shirt kept slipping off her shoulder, revealing her pink bra straps).

"This was my one attempt at being fashionable," she said pulling her T-shirt back in place. "And it sucks."

The crowd - from 20-something pop-rock junkies to thirtysomething females singing passionately along to Clarkson's break-up songs to head-banging retirees (yeah, what a mix) - was forgiving, because, let's face it, you don't come to a Kelly Clarkson gig for the outrageous costumes or fancy sets but for the singer's powerful vocals and rocking songs. And on that count, she delivered. <snip>