Apple Music/YouTube Kelly Clarkson
“The Voice” coach and “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson is preparing for the release of her much-anticipated 10th studio album, “Chemistry” (which comes out Friday, June 23). In working up to the album’s release, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” host sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe on June 21 to talk about the songs on the album, the themes Clarkson explores in her songwriting, and the personal emotions at play that inspired her during this project.
The main source of inspiration for this record, as Clarkson has spoken about multiple times, was her divorce from ex-husband (and ex-manager) Brandon Blackstock, with whom she shares two children, River and Remington. Clarkson has previously explained that she named the album “Chemistry” because while a lot of her sadness and anger over her divorce is prevalent, she wanted to capture the good parts of the relationship as well. “A whole relationship shouldn’t be brought down to just one thing. So there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly kinda thing going on it.”
During her Apple Music interview, Clarkson expanded on this and went into what inspires her and what bothers her about other musicians and their work.
Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Pet Peeve of Art’
Clarkson explained to Lowe that some of her angriest songs (where she is “saying names”) were left off of “Chemistry” because the emotions behind them were too raw, but that they are still valuable to her.
“That’s the cool thing about art,” Clarkson said, “Whether you’re a painter, a sculptor, writer, singer, whatever you’re doing. You can tell when someone’s been through something. That’s the worst thing too, it’s my pet peeve of art whenever it’s so transparent that you have no idea what you’re singing about or talking about. It’s so transparent with the artist.
“You’re undeserving to sing that lyric right now,” Clarkson elaborated, sharing how she feels when she hears music but can’t feel the artist’s emotional connection to the subject matter, “Because unless you’ve felt it, don’t try and talk about it. Don’t try and tell me what I’m feeling. That’s very hard for me to hear.”
Later, in the interview, Clarkson shared why it is important for her that her music have the emotional connection that she wants from other artists, and why she promotes music she enjoys from lesser-known artists than herself. “I need somebody to be able to heal like I did and hear [that] this is important. And there are songs and records that do not get the recognition that you feel like [they should].”
Kelly Clarkson Shared Her Dating Pet Peeves
Years before her Apple Music interview, Clarkson hosted a “Single Ladies Celebration” on her show in February 2021 and opened up about her pet peeves in relationships.
When one fan asked if Clarkson had any relationship annoyances that she pretended to like in the moment but actually didn’t Clarkson was ready with her answer. “I dated this guy, and I think because I’m a singer-songwriter [he felt like] ‘Oh, I’m going to write her a song,'” Clarkson explained, before looking directly into the camera and telling the viewing audience, “Don’t.”
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