Masquerade (Kelly Clarkson album)

Masquerade is the eighth studio album by Kelly Clarkson. It was released on June 10th, 2016 by Accent Records and Sony Music Entertainment. The album was the first released on Accent Records, after Clarkson fulfilled her contract with RCA Records. Serving as the followup to 2013's Wrapped In Red, a Christmas album, Masquerade is also Kelly's first album full of all new and original material since Stronger (2011). Commercially, the record is Kelly's third to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. Illustrated as a concept record, the record deals with hot topic issues in our society through the lense of a metaphorical uncanny fantasy realm. This concept was brought to life through the album visuals as well as the music videos for the singles, the latter of which all received universal acclaim.

Masquerade was released to critical acclaim which applauded the album's emphasis on production and Clarkson's stunning vocal performances. Since its release, Kelly has stated that she felt like Masquerade was the beginning of a new chapter in her career. This is evident in the musical stylings of the record which consist of genres like electro-pop, synthpop, and dance - a departure from her predominant pop rock sound. Clarkson teamed up with fellow pop stars Lorde and Lindsay Lohan to help write and produce for the album. This resulted in Kelly collaborating vocally with both artists, as well as Mariah Carey on different songs.

The album was preceded by the release of its dual-lead singles, "Scarlet Letter (feat. Lindsay Lohan)" and "Masquerade". Both singles went on to become hits for Kelly and score multiple GRAMMY nominations along with the latter winning a BBMA for Best Pop Song. "Cosmic" was released a promotional single, and later "Madhatter" was released and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Cinderella" was released as the final single from Masquerade. It debuted at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became a standout song for the era. To celebrate the successful sold out tour, as well as the end of the era, Kelly released The Masquerade World Tour Live on October 21st, 2016.

Background and Recording
After releasing Phoenix in 2015, Kelly began touring. While touring on The Phoenix Tour, Kelly began writing for her eighth studio record. The concept for the album came from Kelly witnessing different headlines and stories dealing with the strife in our world. Inspired to try to bring to light different issues in our society, Kelly titled the album Masquerade from the beginning of the album-making process. She continued writing once the tour ended and delved more into the creative process. Recording sessions began once the tour concluded. During these sessions, Kelly worked with her go-to producer Greg Kurstin. She also branched out and worked with other writers and producers such as Jack Antonoff, Shellback, and Stargate.

When making the album, Kelly and her team focused very much on the production of the record. Kelly set out to make a departure from her previous musical sounds and went with a full electronic approach. Kelly also teamed up with other artists in pop such as Lorde, Lindsay Lohan, and Mariah Carey to write for the record. This also resulted in vocal collaborations with all three stars. Record sessions took place in Accent Record's Nashville studio as well as studios in New York and Los Angeles.

Themes and Influences
Clarkson has described Masquerade as being a concept record that deals with issues our society struggles with. "There are just some things I don't think we talk about enough," Kelly stated in an interview. "This album I wanted to bring more light to those topics." Kelly also stated that the title of the album was a metaphor for unmasking all these issues and bringing people to empowerment. Taking the concept even further, Kelly developed a fantasy world in which all these concepts played out. The world was inspired by many fairy tales and even the fantasy drama TV show, Once Upon a Time. "I wanted people to get a visual representation of what I was talking about in these songs," Kelly stated. To showcase the concept, Kelly released a visual film that took five tracks from the album and put storylines to. This influence is even evident in the tracklist of the album where the opening and closing songs are named after fairy tale characters.

Song Analysis
The album opens with "Madhatter" produced by Jack Antonoff who also co-wrote the song with Kelly and Greg Kurstin. The track sets the tone for the rest of the album with its conceptual title and mysterious tone. The second track of the album, "Scarlet Letter (feat. Lindsay Lohan)", features a duet with pop star Lindsay Lohan. The song’s writing credits are star-studded as well with Lindsay Lohan and Lorde joining Kelly with co-writes. “Scarlet Letter” is one of the most upbeat and fun songs on the record. The next track, "Rubies & Emeralds (feat. Mariah Carey)", was produced by Lindsay Lohan who also helped write the song with Kelly and Mariah. The message of the song is about wanting sincerity and genuine connection over material things. "Heart On Fire" is the fourth track on the album and is a strong dance song. With production from Jack Antonoff and Max Martin and writing from Kelly, Sia Furler, and the producers themselves, the song certainly proves to be one of the most dance-y on the album. "Cosmic" was produced by Greg Kurstin and Max Martin who also co-wrote the song with Kelly. The title track was written by Lorde and Kelly and produced by Jack Antonoff. "Traveler", the next track on the album, is a musical interlude that transitions to different topics within the album. The song piece was written by Kelly and Greg Kurstin, with Kurstin also producing it. The eight track, "Lost Girl", was produced by Stargate and written by Kelly, Greg Kurstin, and Stargate. The song talks about being ready for love. "LA Skyline" is a ballad off the album that was written by Selena Gomez and given to Kelly. The song was produced by Stargate. Kelly described the song as being, "Perfectly written. Selena captured the message of the song perfectly." The song talks about wanting to escape the glitz and glam of the music industry. The next song, "You Were Smiling", was penned by Kelly alone with Greg Kurstin producing the track. Kelly has stated it was one of the most difficult songs to write because of the song's message being about suicide. The last collaboration on the album comes on the ninth track, "Playing Games (feat. Lorde)". Shellback produced the song and wrote it with Kelly and Jim White. Jim White also helped write for the majority of Kelly's previous record, Phoenix. The song talks about a relationship going back and forth, and wanting peace through it all. "Life Back In My Hands", the twelfth track off the album, is another dance track that talks about empowerment and taking charge back. It was written by Kelly, Greg Kurstin, and Max Martin. Jack Antonoff and Max Martin also produced it. "Cinderella" is the closing track of the album. It was written by Lorde and produced by Greg Kurstin. The song has simple production that allows the message of finding your own strength outside of a relationship to shine through.

Release
Masquerade was released worldwide on June 10th, 2016 by Accent Records through its parent corporation Sony Music Entertainment.

Promotion
On February 21st, 2016, Kelly appeared on Le Grand Journal. There, a trailer aired that contained a snippet of the lead single Masquerade playing in the background while its lyrics flashed on a black screen. A week later, the dual-lead singles from the album, "Masquerade" and "Scarlet Letter (feat. Lindsay Lohan)", released. Unlike in her past album era, Clarkson did not release any songs off the album early and focused on promoting the album through visuals and performances. When the album was released, Kelly teamed up with Youtube to premier the visual short film for the album which was titled, Masquerade: The Visuals''. ''The deal with Youtube included site-wide ads and billboards placed all around the world.

Kelly appeared on various shows such as SNL, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Ellen, and other talk shows. To further promote the album, Kelly started her campaign with Samsung for their S7 Edge phone. Through the campaign, Kelly became the new face of Samsung. All around the world, advertisements with Kelly and the phone were put in place.

Singles
"Masquerade" and "Scarlet Letter (feat. Lindsay Lohan)", the lead singles from Masquerade, were released on February 28th, 2016. The songs received critical acclaim and became some of Kelly's biggest singles so far. "Masquerade", which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over 1.5 million copies and became Kelly's second-biggest single in CAL history. The song also won a Billboard Music Award for Best Pop Song. The music video for the song went on to become Kelly's most-viewed music video, and also went viral for its concept. "Scarlet Letter" became another hit for Clarkson as well, selling over 1.3 million copies and being a global smash hit on radio. "Cosmic" was released as the album's third single on June 24th, 2016, but was later claimed as a promotional single. "Madhatter" was released as the album's official followup single to its two lead singles on July 27th, 2016. The single went on to sell over 700,000 copies and become certified gold, it was another top 10 hit for the album. "Cinderella" came as the final single from the album. The song was released to not only promote the album, but also Kelly's live album, The Masquerade World Tour Live.