As anyone might have guessed (including yours truly), it didn’t take long for Kelly Clarkson‘s new single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” to hit the airwaves. This morning, New York’s Z100 was given the exclusive honor, and thanks to the Interwebs, we can all join the listening party.

The opening guitar bit brings to mind “Since U Been Gone,” but “My Life Would Suck” accelerates rather quickly into full-on frenzied pop. After the first, second, and even third time through, I was asking myself whether I was okay with Clarkson so clearly giving herself over to the machine. But by spin #4, I was totally on board. (I’m completely powerless in the presence of a good pop hook.)

Hear here (or here, if Sony BMG pulls the YouTube posting below):

As for the cover of her upcoming album, All I Ever Wanted, Clarkson says (taking grammatical license via her blog): “it’s very colorful and they have definitely photo-shopped the crap out of me but i don’t care haha! whoever she is, she looks great ha!”

Whatever the critical reaction may be to her new material, Clarkson sounds like she’s gonna have the last laugh.

“My Life Would Suck Without You” is available via Amazon MP3 this Friday. All I Ever Wanted, out March 17, is available for pre-order via Amazon.