Piece by Piece

I Can't Help It If You Sound Like An Angel

Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson

Recommended by Uncle Manny

"I suggest you check out the YouTube video of her performance of this song on American Idol. It was this performance that brought me to tears in its discussion of negligent fathers. I have been blessed in my life with nothing but excellent examples of wonderful fathers, first of all being my own! My grandfathers and all of my uncles have been great examples of what a father should be. Apparently Kelly herself did not have an example of this in her life. Presuming, of course, that she is speaking from her own experience. I challenge anyone to watch this performance and not shed a tear."

If you want to see the official music video, that can be found here, but I embedded the American Idol performance that my uncle mentioned. The album version is more upbeat with some electronic sounds. It's fun, and I like that sound a lot, but it's far from the raw Idol version, with just Kelly's powerful voice and a piano.

Plus, that "live" aspect brings a lot the table here, especially in terms of emotion.

I'm always impressed when singers seem like they're "into" a song even after performing it a million times. In this case, Piece by Piece was only released three months prior to the performance, so I get it. I just mean in general. Like...how many times have Maroon 5 performed She Will Be Loved over the past 14 years?

But I digress.

Kelly's voice is amazing, and she brings its full strength right from the very first line. And all I remember is your back...

The song is a ballad, half of which is calling out Kelly's father for leaving his family instead of loving them; the other half compares him to Kelly's husband - and father of their children.

He never walks away.

He takes care of me, 'cause he loves me.

There's a point around 3:10 where Kelly's voice breaks, and she has to turn away from the microphone...it hurts my heart. There's a part a bit later where she whispers, "Sorry." :(

I can't even imagine how lovely it must be for her to be starting her own family now. But the song is still bittersweet because now that she has a man who treats her and their children so well, it puts into perspective exactly how much better her dad could have been.

And piece by piece, he'll restore my faith
That a man can be kind, and a father can be great.

Kelly has said this piece is something of a sequel to her 2004 song Because of You. A happy ending.

Overview:

Genre:
Pop

Favorite Lyrics:
Piece by piece, I fell far from the tree.

Verdict:
It's so interesting how you've got two completely different versions of this song. The stripped version is powerful and emotional and focuses on the broken pieces; whereas, the original album version reveals a lot of Kelly's inner strength and reminds you that the song is ultimately optimistic.