THE REALITY OF THE BUSINESS

As another American Idol season comes to a close, the first Idol champ is trying to make the transition from recording artist to artist.

Kelly Clarkson, who co-wrote a few of the hit singles on her smash second album, Breakaway, ups the songwriting ante and goes the autobiographical route on My December, due June 26.

"The whole album is a story of the past two years, all the highs and lows," said Clarkson in the May 25 edition of Entertainment Weekly.

Guess what? The suits at RCA, her label, didn't care for it.

"They were like, 'It's just too negative,' " added Clarkson.

As her manager points out in the same EW story, record companies "get nervous" when top-selling acts such as Clarkson choose to "take risks and evolve."

But isn't that what artists should do? Absolutely.

RCA probably was expecting her to be, in the words of Idol judge Simon Cowell, "a puppet." Well, just like The Monkees did after tasting success on TV and on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Clarkson wants to take a step forward with her music.

In doing so, she may take a step backward, sales-wise.

Who needs reality TV when there's real drama such as this?