Subsequent to multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album can be a discouraging job for any artist. Kelly Clarkson''s passageway to releasing her latest CD, My December, has been particularly painful.

First there was word that record tycoon Clive Davis, who manages her record label, RCA, didn''t like the direction of the upcoming album. Then reports murmured about a dispute between the two over control of it. Her first single, Never Again, had a reputable but ordinary run on the charts. Soon, her manager was gone and she canceled her future tour due to slow ticket sales.

While Clarkson has received abundance of advertising, it''s uncertain it''s the type of media crusade the 25-year-old planned. But industry watchers say it''s uncertain, too, that the chaos will lead to the industry''s frightening word flop.

Sean Ross, who tracks the radio industry for Edison Media Research, said that so far the only trouble Clarkson''s looked is not accomplishing a No. 1 single out of the gate.

It''s sort of extraordinary to me that this much judgment has been passed before everyone has heard the album, which I think to some extent is going to color how people see the album, he said.

It could affect sales a little bit in the first few weeks and when the record first comes out, said M. Tye Comer, editorial director for AOL Music, which this week premiered a live concert by Clarkson on its place. (But) I think at the end of the day she''s going to come out on top.

The former American Idol has had success ever since she released her first album, 2003''s Thankful, which sold more than 1 million copies. But the multiplatinum Breakaway cemented her status as a bona fide artist outside of Idol, with critically acclaimed smashes like the brush-off anthem Since U Been Gone and the melancholy ballad, Because of You, which she co-wrote.

My December, on which Clarkson co-wrote every track, takes an even more threatening tone, with annoyed rock sounds and harsh ballads. The album has gathered mostly positive notices.

But alarms were sounded when the first single, the driving Never Again, only reached No. 9 on Billboard''s top 100 singles chart and remained in the top 20 only a few weeks.