Kelly Clarkson Brings Garth Brooks to Tears With Emotional Performance

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Kelly Clarkson is a music and television superstar, but that doesn’t mean she’s always confident going into performances.

During the 43rd annual Kennedy Center Honors, which were filmed in Washington, D.C., Clarkson performed an emotional rendition of Garth Brooks’s song “The Dance,” and it was emotional for everyone involved.

You can watch Clarkson’s performance and see Brooks’s reaction here via Variety.

The Kennedy Center Honors will air on June 6 at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Clarkson Previously Said “The Dance” Got Her Through Her Divorce

In a segment on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Clarkson opened up to Brooks about how he helped her get through her divorce form Brandon Blackstock.

In a segment when she was talking to Brooks, Clarkson talked about her playlists she’s had on repeat since filing for divorce.

“I couldn’t quite nail down the feeling,” Clarkson told him. “I was like, well, you don’t want to crap on it. Like, you don’t want to say that it didn’t count or matter, but you don’t know what to put in it because it didn’t work out how you wanted. And, so, anyway, I kid you not, I was listening to my playlist and ‘The Dance’ came on and I was like, ‘No, that’s the thing. That’s it.’”

She added that the particular lyric that resonated her so much was when Brooks sings, “I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.”

She said the song also inspired her to write songs like that to work through her emotions.

Clarkson Says She Was Nervous During Her Performance

In a clip obtained by KVUE, Clarkson talked about how nervous she was to perform for Brooks. She said that she’s not usually nervous about performing but it was emotional for her.

“I was texting Trisha Yearwood before the show and then I go on stage and I saw them and like all of a sudden I am the sweatiest human on planet earth,” she said. “And I got a little nervous, and I don’t get nervous singing. Yep, I didn’t enjoy that!”

Clarkson recently revealed another time she was nervous, but it wasn’t for her singing. When Simon Cowell injured himself and had to step away from judging on “America’s Got Talent,” Kelly Clarkson stepped in, and she was nervous for the role, she revealed on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

When talking about his back injury and having to be away from “America’s Got Talent,” Clarkson said that she filled in for Cowell.

“And you almost did too well, Kelly,” Cowell remarked.

She shared that she felt nervous about filling in for him.

“I’ve got to hand it to you because we were at a bit of a loose end, and someone said, ‘Well, do you think Kelly would do it?’” Cowell remembered. “I said, ‘I promise you, if Kelly’s free, she’ll do it.’ And I was watching in bed that night and thinking, ‘Thank you.’”

He added, “Because as I’m watching it, I’m thinking, ‘You’re actually doing too well here.’ It’s true!”

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