Entertainment

GRAND PRAIRIE – Based on the past year, one wonders how smart Kelly Clarkson actually is.Most have little evidence to doubt her passion, and Friday's 90-minute performance at Nokia Theatre provided no additional fodder. Her voice is just as strong, her comfort just as plain and her will just as focused onstage as at any time since this time of year in 2002, when she was a newly minted superstar thanks to the inaugural season of American Idol.

Kelly Clarkson at NOKIA Theatre Friday

REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor

That was truly Ms. Clarkson's December, and much of the following four years was hers as well in pop music. But her decisions regarding her self-written five-month-old CD, My December, have been forceful and not always properly considered. Public conjecture (plenty), radio airplay (not much) and hard sales (well below superstar levels) have borne out a truth: This December won't be Ms. Clarkson's to own.

But in front of about 7,500 fans at the nicely timed stop on the North Texas native's U.S. tour (hey, even pop divas want to celebrate Thanksgiving with family), someone made many fine decisions. The show was a properly compartmentalized, expertly massaged and nearly flawless display of her still-heady pop singing prowess.

Its first half focused on primarily new material on a stage that sported the same carpet-lined steps and twisted, weather-dried vines as My December's cover sports. Seven of the first 12 numbers were from that CD, including all three of its singles ("Maybe," "Don't Waste Your Time" and "Never Again"), two of its quirkiest tracks ("One Minute" and "Hole") and Ms. Clarkson's mother's favorite selection, "Be Still."

That syrupy latter track, performed with the band in shadow and Ms. Clarkson spotlit with Vegas cabaret-like glamour (well, as much as possible with a singer wearing black tights and an out-of-fashion cobalt blue silk blouse), concluded an intimate three-song interlude that proved to be the evening's high point. The other two selections fell in line with the intended intimacy: a smooth version of "Because of You" accompanied only by a Rhodes piano, and a lovely cover of Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain" that honored the Maine-born folk singer beautifully, if conservatively.

Then the curtain fell, and Kelly the pop star – complete with an ultra-modern, ramp-anchored metal stage with nary a sign of velvet or vine – emerged for 35 minutes. A "Miss Independent" remix with samples from AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Toadies commenced that portion, which closed with her best hit, "Since U Been Gone."

The child- and family-heavy crowd visibly appreciated the re-emergence of "old" Kelly, and to Ms. Clarkson's credit, she performed those success-making hits with a perky and zesty verve. But the fire that cracked under her breath during "Never Again" during the set's first half wasn't sensed anywhere on an older track, except perhaps during "Addicted," which is the darkest song lyrically on 2004's smash album, Breakaway, anyway.

No, Ms. Clarkson will never be Avril Lavigne (who co-wrote "Addicted"); she's too down-home and principled, and she's just not the "Sk8er Boi" type. But she's still got genuinely hellacious pipes, no matter what context they're presented in. She may have made some bizarre and boneheaded choices pop music-wise on her new CD, but at least they were hers, and are therefore as genuine as her singing talent.