All I Ever Wanted (2009)
“I just want to be able to look back at this album and be proud, and to think, ‘Man, that was awesome!’”
With her fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, Clarkson demonstrates her eagerness to continue branching out, and to push her music in new and unexpected directions. Though she has sold over twenty million records around the world; landed eight singles in the Top Ten; and won Grammys, MTV Video Music Awards, American Music Awards, and even been nominated for a CMA Award, she maintains that she’s far more interested in challenging herself than in repeating herself.
Clarkson’s enthusiasm is instantly apparent, even infectious, as she races to talk about each of the new songs. “A lot of it has a soulful, ’70s rock vibe,” she says, “and then some is more club/dance stuff—’If I Can’t Have You’ is like the Killers-meets-the Eurythmics.” But she also shows her softer, more emotional side with “If No One Will Listen” and her own composition, “Cry,” which she says is “basically a country song with pop production, incredibly sad but still strong.”
Clarkson points to the album’s first single, the unforgettably titled “My Life Would Suck Without You” (produced by pop wizards Dr. Luke and Max Martin and written by the two with Claude Kelly) as an example of her need to personalize and connect with all of her material. “They write great catchy, sassy songs,” she says. “But it became a very different song from how it started. We changed the point of view, and other things throughout, because we had to make it more Kelly Clarkson. And Luke and Max love that, because it’s a challenge for them to make a song really work for me.”
The album’s defiant track “I Do Not Hook Up” comes courtesy of Katy Perry. “I’ve been a fan of hers since before ‘I Kissed a Girl,’” says Clarkson. “And when I heard that song, it really felt like something I could have written myself.”
She laughs as she describes “I Want You” and its surprising theme. “First, it’s not a boy-bashing song, so that’s already different for me,” she says. “Plus, I wrote it, so that makes it even weirder!”
The range of All I Ever Wanted shouldn’t come as a shock, though, considering the wild ride that Texas-born Kelly Clarkson has lived. She was, of course, catapulted into the spotlight in 2002 as the very first American Idol winner. (“Our show was so different from how it is now,” she says. “Now there’s all this pressure, all these comparisons, but we were just a bunch of kids that wanted to make music—it was almost like performing in bars for ten people, like I used to.”) Her superstardom was secured with Breakaway in 2005. That album sold over ten million copies, spun off five Top Ten hits, and stayed on the charts for two full years.
But the platinum-selling follow-up, 2007′s My December, arrived surrounded by widespread rumors and speculation. Clarkson, for one, still doesn’t know what the fuss was all about. “Really, it was a very positive experience,” she says. “Mostly I learned about how people can twist things—I’ve never met one artist that agreed with their label about every single thing, but people made such a big deal out of it. The label saw that I wanted to push the envelope, they let me make the record I wanted to make, and now I can make another one.”
So when it came time to choose songs for All I Ever Wanted, Clarkson knew what she was looking for. “Ninety-nine per cent of the time, I’m a lyrics girl,” she says. “I like the more melodic, formula stuff because I grew up loving pop music, but most of the time I’m totally about the lyrics and the message of the song.
“I could always sing all of these styles,” she continues, “but I think only now am I getting more comfortable with the people I work with, and people are getting more comfortable with me, getting to know me and what I like.”
She says that working with producers Sam Watters and Louis Biancaniello on “Whyyouwannabringmedown,” which she describes as having “kind of a punk-British Invasion sound,” was the album’s turning point. “I sang that song through I don’t know how many times, just because I was having so much fun,” she says. “It was new and it was fresh and it didn’t sound like anything on the radio. And after that, I went to my manager and said that I wanted to make a really fun, feisty album, and just wanted to go all the way with every song.”
Clarkson penned about half of the album, but it’s hard to pin down her work as representing any single style. “My writing is all over the place,” she says. “I do love writing sad, depressing songs—that’s definitely fun for me. But I’m very much a writer of whatever I’m going through, what I see in my life. And I’m 26, so I change every day!”
Mostly, she’s excited to get back on the road and take the songs of All I Ever Wanted onto the stage. “Even when I’m recording, I’m always thinking about how I’m going to do a song live, what I’ll be able to bring to it. I make records for touring—it’s my favorite part of what I do.”
Through the highs and lows, the triumphs and controversies, Kelly Clarkson has retained, even strengthened, her love for all styles of music. With All I Ever Wanted, she’s able to fully reveal how far that love extends. “This time, I wanted to show the extremes of what I can do,” she says. “That’s what keeps me interested, and keeps the audience interested.
“I never want to make just one sound,” says Kelly Clarkson. “The worst thing to me is when all the songs on an album sound the same. If you have that choice, why wouldn’t you want to bring out all the different sides and colors of your personality?”
My December (2007 – 2008)
“Nothing’s real/Until you let go completely/So here I go/With all my thoughts/I’ve been saving.”
- Sober
After the tremendous success of 2004′s Breakaway, which sold 6 million in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide on the strength of such #1 hits as “Since U Been Gone,” the title track, “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” “Because of You” and “Walk Away,” Kelly Clarkson earned the right to make the kind of album she wanted to make for her third RCA Records effort, My December.
“The biggest difference is how intimate it is,” she says of the album, co-produced by David Kahne [Bangles, Sublime, McCartney, the Strokes] and touring band members Jimmy Messer and Jason Halbert. Kelly either wrote or co-wrote every song on the album, just as she has on such hits as “Because of You,” Behind these Hazel Eyes,” “Walk Away” and “Miss Independent.” Legendary L.A. punk bassist Mike Watt, who has played with Iggy and the Stooges as well as his own band the Minuteman, guests on three songs.
“Regardless of whether it’s a happy or sad song, the album’s very in-your-face,” she says of the full throttle rock & roll aggression on songs like the first single, “Never Again,” and “Hole.” “There was no filter…just four very different individuals who joined together to come up with a really cool record. There’s a little bit of something for everyone on this album.”
My December unfolds like a diary of the last two years in the life of Kelly Clarkson, which saw her take home a pair of 2006 Grammy Awards at L.A.’s Staples Center and perform a show-stopping version of “Because of You”; nab four American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, a People’s Choice Award and a staggering 11 Billboard Music Awards. But all that acclaim took its toll on her personal relationships, captured on the dance-floor funk-soul of “One Minute,” which she describes as “about the craziness of everything,” the Edge-styled guitars in the blues-rocking “Hole,” the betrayal of “Judas” and the playful No Doubt-inspired rhythmic pulse of “How I Feel.” Songs like “Sober,” “Be Still,” “Maybe” and “Irvine” are vocal showcases that reflect her singer-songwriter roots.
“The record is about me, why I make the decisions I do,” she says. “Most of my songs are about what’s happening in my life. For me, it’s like free therapy. Whether it’s me growing, or helping someone else get through similar circumstances.”
Clarkson wrote almost 60 songs for the new record, eventually paring it down to 26, then 14.
“Each song was picked carefully,” she says. “I learned we should do what makes us happy and tell our stories without worrying about being #1 all the time and selling millions of albums. I just want to be me, but it’s really hard to do that when everybody’s breathing down your neck trying to make you somebody else.”
Clarkson describes My December as an album that completes one era and opens up another, starting with the emotionally charged “Never Again,” in which she writes about a relationship gone sour, but it’s not what you think. “It’s not really a boyfriend-girlfriend thing,” explains Kelly. “It’s more about trusting and putting your faith in someone and getting let down.”
“Sober” is about survival, knowing what to do when something goes wrong. “It’s not easy getting over whatever your addiction may be,” she says. “The whole point of that song is, the temptation is there, but I’m not going to give in to it.”
“Judas” is also a song about betrayal, a reference to the biblical character. “You think people are normal and good, then all of a sudden, you get blindsided,” says Kelly.
“Haunted” is an eerie song Kelly wrote four or five years ago about someone she grew up with that committed suicide, in which she cries out, “Where are you?/I need you/Don’t leave me here on my own.” “I was expressing my anger at how someone could do that,” she says. “Why would you leave all these people behind feeling guilty and wondering what they could have done to prevent it? I really believe that God puts us through these situations to help others.”
“Be Still” is a folk-blues number that Kelly compares to Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones and Bonnie Raitt, with a dash of vintage Christine McVie, explaining how the title comes from one of her favorite Bible verses: “Be still and know that I am here.” “It’s all about stopping things, slowing down to appreciate life,” she says. “Everything just goes so fast, especially in this business. There’s just no time to be alone for a moment of quiet. That’s why I don’t live in L.A. and have always lived in Texas. It’s about getting away from the rat race and carving out a space for yourself.”
The hypnotic guitar at the start of “Maybe” gives the song a country feel, which Kelly describes as “closer to Ryan Adams or Patty Griffin than traditional country.”
The psychedelic funk of “Yeah” has an upbeat sexy, Prince-meets-Sly & the Family Stone vibe. “The song is about this guy I was dating, who was so cool, but wasn’t able to put up with me being in the public eye all the time,” she relates. “I want a real man, not someone who’s going to walk around on eggshells and be a ‘yes’ person. I want someone to let me know if they’re happy, mad or sad.”
Clarkson says the tongue-in-cheek “Can I Have a Kiss” is actually about two different people in the verse and the chorus. “That’s the first time I ever did that,” she says. “The lyrics are about something very true to me. You know how you want someone, but can’t have them because they’re off-limits? In the chorus, I sing that, even if you had ‘em, you know you’d screw it up. You always want what you can’t have. It’s a funny, ironic song.”
Kelly describes “Irvine,” which she wrote in the bathroom of her dressing room while performing at the Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, as “the saddest song I’ve ever written.” “The song is a prayer from the lowest point in my life,” she says. “There comes a time when you feel like, if He’s up there, God, Allah or whatever you want to call Him, is the only one that can help me out. After that night, I know there’s someone or something out there looking out for me.”
On the bluesy acoustic twang of “Chivas,” the rollicking hidden bonus track, Clarkson channels the late Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” on a cheeky kiss-off drinking song with lines like “You’re not worth it, babe/All the trouble you bring…I’m so sick of you, babe/I can’t stand the sight of your face… You should keep your eyes on your new girlfriend.” It’s a sense of humor she demonstrates throughout the album.
“At the end of the day, life is too short,” says Kelly. “You can’t take things too seriously. I wanted to end the album on a light note. There are obviously moments you think you’ll never get over, but you do. We need that kind of sarcasm.”
My December marks a major turning point for Kelly Clarkson, a third album that defies expectations and introduces an artist coming into her own and growing into her powerfully, distinctive vocals.
“It’s the end of something and the beginning of a new era, a fresh start,” she says. “My December album is like a movie about me, it’s my story.
Source (Thanks to archive.org)
Breakaway (2004 – 2006)
When we first met her, Kelly Clarkson was new at her job. But what a difference two years can make. Her new-found confidence is more than evident on her second RCA Records Label release, “Breakaway,” named after the mega radio hit (No. 1 on all Top 40 radio outlets) Billboard Magazine acknowledged Clarkson’s development with a review of her new single, “Since U Been Gone.” It read in part, “This is an utterly ideal showcase for Clarkson. There’s glorious tempo, enough edge to rattle the speakers, a relentless, big-game hook — and it’s a huge leap forward for the entertainer as a more confident, ever-maturing vocalist.”
“Breakaway” follows Clarkson’s first album, “Thankful,” which is certified double-platinum by the RIAA. That No. 1 album included her single “A Moment Like This,” which set the record for the biggest leap to the top in the history of the Hot 100 when it rocketed 52-1. “Thankful” also includes the top 10 hit “Miss Independent” which made her a 2004 Grammy nominee for Best Female Pop Vocal, and the radio hits “Low” and “The Trouble With Love Is,” from the soundtrack to “Love Actually.”
“I had a lot of time to work on this album, and I had the past two years to write stuff. A lot of the songs on the album I wrote way before we went into the studio.” Kelly Clarkson is discussing her latest album, Breakaway, a record that is the next step in the singer’s artistic evolution. The album has more of a “rock” sound than her debut, an influence that had been creeping into Kelly’s music ever since her first major tour: “Even the songs from my first album that weren’t so ‘rock,’ I sang them in that style live, because it made them more fun to sing. So, this time, we ended up making more of a rock-pop album.”
The album got its start on Kelly’s one-month break after the tour for her debut album, Thankful, came to a close. Most people in any walk of life would love to take a month off from their careers. But Kelly Clarkson isn’t “most people,” and it wasn’t long before she was looking ahead to her next record.
Clarkson has writing credit on six songs on the new album, including “Because of You” and “Addicted,” which she collaborated on with Ben Moody and David Hodges, formerly of Evanescence. “The songs with David and Ben were the most fun to record,” she says, “because I was involved in every little thing, like sitting in on the string section. Ben and David are very opposite from each other, so each of us brought something different to the songs.
On her latest album, Breakaway, what she wanted was to follow her artistic impulses. More than simply a great singer, Kelly Clarkson is also a writer and an artist with a vision for her work… all of which comes through on Breakaway. What follows is her thoughts on each track on the album.
“Breakaway”: written by M. Gerrerd, B. Benante, A. Lavigne. “I’ve done country music, I’ve done pop, I’ve done gospel… all of my singles have sounded different. But this song was different from everything I’ve done; people didn’t even know it was me!” “‘Breakaway’ is a simple song, and I think that it’s simplicity is what’s beautiful about it. Whenever writers or producers come to work with me, they take advantage of the fact that I can really belt it out. What’s cool about ‘Breakaway’ is that it doesn’t take advantage of that. The song just uses the simplicity of my voice.”
“It was co-written by Avril Lavigne. She’s very talented. I don’t think you have to write everything that you sing. I could relate to the song, it describes how I got into the business, verbatim. I did grow up in a small town, I wanted to get out, I felt like there was something… not better for me, but something different for me. I didn’t feel like I fit in at school. Whether you are a DJ, or if you work with computers, or if you’re a teacher, everyone has that point where they feel, ‘I’m bored and this isn’t what I wanted to do with my life.’”
“Since U Been Gone”: Writen by Max Martin and the co-writer of the song, Lukasz Gottwald “Rock music can be very ‘in your face’ like Janis Joplin or Aerosmith, it’s not as ‘smooth’ as pop or R&B. It’s very emotional. Vocally, it can be a lot more challenging. ‘Since U Been Gone’ is very fun to play live.”
“This song was produced by Max Martin, who is known for stuff he’s done with the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, he’s done a lot of great music with them. But the sad thing about the music industry is that people get pigeonholed. He got boxed into that ‘pop’ thing, because he is so great at it. But he wanted to spread his wings, and do something more in the rock direction. He wasn’t sure he wanted to work with me, because he didn’t want to do pop. It turns out that I said the same thing about him. Then we realized that we both wanted to rock! So, it worked out really well.”
“Behind These Hazel Eyes”: written by Clarkson with Max Martin and Lukas “Dr. Luke” Gottwald. “I wrote ‘Behind The Hazel Eyes’ about my last boyfriend. It’s the last song I wrote for the album, I almost didn’t make the deadline. I’m not too worried about people knowing whom these songs are about. I’m a normal 22 year old girl, and if someone breaks my heart, I’m gonna write about it. I’m putting out my diary basically. It’s a very personal thing. Putting out this record was a bit nerve racking at first. I feel like I’m saying to the world, ‘Please don’t reject me, please like my songs! (laughs)’ It was therapeutic for me, I love the record, but I hope people like the songs! There is a lot of stuff on the album that’s related to breakups. Although there’s a lot of songs that people think are about breakups, but they’re not.”
“Because Of You”: written by Clarkson, Ben Moody, & David Hodges. “’Because Of You’ isn’t about breakups, it’s about my family. It is about growing up in a broken home. My parents were together for 17 years or so, and then all of the sudden, something went wrong. But I’ve talked to lots of friends who have seen domestic violence in their homes; I didn’t. But if you see those things as a child, you see a family member cheating or people not trusting each other or people not communicating with each other, that effects you. You end up afraid to trust people, because you think you’re going to get screwed over. Me and a friend of mine were up late one night talking about our lives, and it led to this song. I wrote it when I was 16, my friend was having a really hard time with her family. It was a different situation than mine, but I could relate to what she was going through. My parents were together for a long time, and suddenly one thing happens, and it’s over. That could happen to me. It made me feel like, why would I want to open up and trust someone? I know that it’s a childish way to look at it; life is a risk, and anything worth having is worth taking a risk for, but I wrote it when I was 16. I have learned a lot since then. At the same time, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still relate. I was 6 when my parents got divorced. I used to be the most closed off person. I didn’t want to get hurt. I had been messed over by friends, and I had been through a lot with my family. I didn’t pity myself, but I did put a wall up. I’m smarter now, but I have a good relationship with God, and that’s gotten better over the years. That’s why I’ve gotten smarter about situations. I’m a very trusting person now. I’m not going to let people screw me over left and right, but at the same time I’m not going to close myself off. That’s a big step for me.”
“The whole record isn’t about breakups, but you can relate lots of it to breakups. I don’t mind if people do think it’s all about breakups. That’s what I think is great about art. You can interpret it any way you want to. Some people will take that and think that a song reaches out to them. With ‘Low’ on my last record, I get a lot of fan mail about that song, and everyone has different interpretations of what they think it’s about. And I think that’s phenomenal.”
“Gone”: written by Kara Dioguardi & John Shanks. “It is a very feisty song. (Producer) John Shanks wrote that with Kara DioGuardi, Kara co-wrote a lot of the songs on the album, she wrote some songs with me. I believe that she co-wrote a lot of Ashlee Simpson’s songs too. She’s an emotional writer.”
“If someone writes a great song, and I haven’t experienced what the lyrics are describing, it’s like acting; you just put yourself in those shoes. I’m only 22, there’s a lot for me to experience in my life. If I think a song will touch people and it needs to be heard, I’ll sing the song. ‘Some Kind Of Miracle’ from my last record was written by Diane Warren, and I just think it’s a beautiful song. Even though I cannot relate to what the song is about, I’ve never been in love like that. I’ve loved people, but not like that. But I thought that song should be heard. And I felt the same way about this song.”
“Addicted”: written by Clarkson, Ben Moody, & David Hodges. “I had been holding on to ‘Because Of You’ and ‘Addicted’ for a while. I am in love with those two songs, the lyrics and the melodies, they are two of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written. I wanted to work on them with someone as passionate about music as I am. And then I heard that Evanescence record… I loved their record because of the passion behind it. I asked my management, ‘Who made that record? I want to work with them on these two songs that I’ve written.’ It ended up being Ben Moody and David Hodges. I met with Ben first, I didn’t even know that he had left Evanescence. But he fell in love with ‘Because Of You.’ That’s what matters, I wanted him to love the music. I was like, ‘Dude, if you don’t like the songs, just let me know, we can write some new stuff, or you don’t have to work with me at all.’ It worked out really, really well.”
“Where Is Your Heart”: written by Clarkson, Chantal Kreviazuk, & Kara Dioguardi … my A&R guy said, ‘I have this writer named Chantal, I think you would write really well with her.’ We connected right away. A lot of women writers, I think, are very emotional. This song is not a schmaltzy ballad, it’s more like Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me.’”
“The guy I wrote ‘Behind These Hazel Eyes’ about, I wrote ‘Where Is Your Heart’ about. He was wanting me to get really into our relationship, and I just thought, ‘Where are you in our relationship?’ If I date someone, I would have to date a guy who isn’t intimated by my job and how busy I am, and who isn’t ‘needy.’ I can’t handle someone who is insecure about our relationship. If I tell you ‘I like you,’ I mean it, I’m not lying. If I didn’t like you, I would walk away, that’s just how I am. I can’t deal with someone who constantly needs reassurance.”
“Chantal’s husband, Raine Maida, from a Canadian rock band called Our Lady Peace plays guitar on the song. We recorded the song at her house, we were playing ping-pong, and she just asked him to play on the record. They are both really passionate about music. They also worked with Avril Lavigne on her record. And they like working with me – and Avril – because we can sing. As a writer, if I was going to give someone a song I didn’t use on this record… I didn’t write for people who can’t sing.”
“Walk Away”: written by Clarkson, Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida & Kara Dioguardi “It’s very blunt and to the point. ‘I’m done with you, you’re upsetting me.’ It’s very in your face, and very raw. You want to sing it right to someone’s face. It’s a fun song to sing live. I really want it to be a single so I can make a video. It’s my ‘Annie Lennox’-type song. I adore Annie Lennox, that’s what I aspire to be. I met her at a benefit, she was so sweet. Luckily, all the people I grew up admiring, when I’ve met them, they’ve been really great people.”
“You Found Me”: writen by Kara Dioguardi & John Shanks “Actually, the album is a very great representation of the past six months of my life. That song and ‘Breakaway’ and ‘Gone’ I recorded in the same day. I recorded it actually before I even went to LA to do the album. I took time off from my vacation to record these songs. I got bored! When I recorded this one, I was actually in a good place with a guy! It was very fitting at the time that I recorded it. I was like ‘Yay!’ at the time. Each song on the album I could totally relate to at the time.”
“I Hate Myself For Losing You”: written by Dioguardi with Jimmy Harry and Shep Solomon “That’s a song that’s really supposed to be about ‘the one guy that got away.’ I don’t actually have that ‘one guy that got away,’ but I did have one guy that kind of didn’t work, and you never know if something could have happened. That’s kind of what the song is about. It was really hard recording that song.”
“It was written for me by Kara, and I wasn’t really in that headspace right then; I hadn’t ‘lost’ someone right then. But, it was kind of like foreshadowing. I read something that Sting said in an interview, he talked about how the great thing about writing is that it is an emotional and therapeutic thing and you can get it out. But the bad thing is, you literally have to go back to that place and re-live it while you’re working on the song. It’s depressing. After doing that song I was depressed for a week! It was depressing recording that song. By the last line, I was crying. But it’s great for the record.”
“Hear Me”: written by Clarkson, Kara Dioguardi and Cliff Magness. “The past few years have been a whirlwind for me, and my life has been crazy, but now I know about where I want to go, and who I am. The song is almost like a prayer to God. I haven’t met the person who I will spend the rest of my life with, but the song is a prayer to God about that. That’s what the song is. ‘God, I’m ready for ‘the one!’ ’ But I don’t even know what I was thinking when I wrote that song, I’m totally not ready for that kind of relationship now anyway! I don’t even know how I’d even fit a relationship into my life. I know that’s horrible to say. But I’m young. I have the most exciting year ahead of me, I’m going to be touring all over the world, Japan, Australia, I should enjoy it, instead of worrying about hurrying up and getting married. But I come from a small town, I have friends who have kids. I go back there, and I feel like I’m ‘behind.’ Like there’s something wrong with me. At the same time, I don’t live there, and that’s not my life.”
“Beautiful Disaster”: writer Matthew Wilder & Rehekah Jordan “’Beautiful Disaster’ is one of the most beautiful songs that I have ever, ever come in contact with. Rebekah Jordan wrote that song for my last record. When I heard it, I called her and I wanted to meet her, I wanted to know why she wrote that song. I just fell in love with the lyrics.”
“There are certain loved ones in your life, it could be a father, a mother, a brother, a boyfriend, a friend, and you want to keep them in your life because you love them, but at the same time they’re dragging you down. It’s easier for someone to drag you down than for you to lift them up. Rebekah told me that she had a boyfriend with a lot of drug issues, and she was really trying to help him get out of it, and she couldn’t. That’s why she wrote the song.”
“As for the recording of the song, I think that, when it was released on my first record, the label wanted all the production that was on it, and I just hated it. I thought it took away from the song, and so did the producer, Matthew Wilder. We wanted to do it the way I did it on tour, with just a piano and my voice. The label thought it didn’t sound ‘big’ enough. But I thought the production was distracting from the lyrics. So, on tour I did the stripped down version. I would get fanmail about that version. I sang it that way on The View. And people wanted that piano and voice version. So I decided to add the live version to this record.”
With a record she’s proud of in stores, Kelly is now looking forward to the next few months: “I’m doing a small theater tour, then I’m going to do a bigger tour that I’m going to co-headline with someone, we haven’t figured out who.” In recent months, there has been some controversy about which singers actually sing, and which ones pretend to. Kelly doesn’t have to worry about proving her singing abilities: her fans know that you don’t win American Idol by faking it.
“When I tour, I sing live. And people like that I sing live. I’m not even criticizing anyone that doesn’t. But there are singers and there are entertainers, it’s very entertaining to go to a show with dancers and a big production, but my show isn’t that. When I’m sitting in an award show… there was a certain award show, I won’t say which one, but there were at least three performers, who didn’t sing live. I was like, I can understand how they sell records – I own some of their records! – I don’t think you have to be the best singer in the world. But for an awards show? When you’re celebrating music, and this was a show that should have had no lip synching. It was almost a slap in the face.”
But Kelly doesn’t spend much time mulling over what other people do; she’s always trying to improve her own skills… not just her singing, but her guitar playing. “There’s a difference between someone who could play guitar and a guitarist. I could play five or six of my songs on guitar .But there’s a difference between me and a guitarist, who can play around with a song and make it sound different. I’m really trying to work to be that. I really want to be good at it, and I think it will make me a better writer.” Judging by the songs she’s penned so far, she’s already a songwriter of note… but it’s typical of someone of her ambition to want to raise her game. As the interview winds down, she scrolls through some unreleased songs on her iPod, which she may offer to other singers or she may release on her own at some point. For now, she’s busy preparing for her tour, and it will be a while before she gets to work on another album. On the other hand, she may not be able to wait to start her next project, so you never know when her new songs will surface.
Source (Thanks to archive.org)
Thankful 2002 – 2003
Thankfully, Kelly Clarkson’s childhood dream to be a marine biologist did not come true, and instead, she became a household name when her soulful voice captured the hearts and minds of millions when she was voted the American Idol in September of 2002.
The twenty-year-old from Texas performed live every week for ten weeks to an audience of 25 million on one of America’s most successful TV show’s ever. Besides the fact that Clarkson never had a professional singing lesson, she received 57% of the vote in the final head to head. In fact, her singing voice was to her, such a natural and normal part of her life, it didn’t strike her that she had something so special. The enormity and beauty of her voice was recognized quite by accident.
At 13 years old, a late bloomer by choral standards, Kelly was singing to herself in the corridor at Pauline Hughes Middle School in Burleson, Texas, when a teacher asked her to consider joining the choir. “Nobody really realized I had a talent until I got in there. My teacher really pushed me since I was behind everyone else who had been doing it since 4th grade. From there on, I had a niche.”
Her classical training through the choir was, as she describes it, “fundamental to me being able to use my voice and adapt it to different styles of music”. She developed quickly and before long was wooing audiences in state and regional competitions, whilst earning a living as a waitress, pharmacy assistant, movie theatre and even at the zoo!
It was a strange twist of fate that really put Kelly on the path to music. Having moved to Los Angeles after graduation she began sending out her demo tape trying to get into the music industry. This, however, came to an abrupt end when her apartment burned down leaving her nearly destitute. The young singer headed on a 24-hour drive home with nothing.
It was her best friend Jessica who was determined for Kelly not to give up and suggested she try out for American Idol. Kelly knew nothing about it, “I went and tried out for fun and here I am!”
With her own idols ranging from Bette Midler and Reba McIntyre to Gwen Stefani and Aerosmith, it’s not surprising her voice can turn to such a wide variation of styles. Signed to 19 Entertainment and RCA, her album will debut in 2003, and with her debut single “A Moment Like This/Before Your Love” double A-side breaking two world records in its first week alone, Kelly Clarkson is firmly on the music map and is set to shake up the industry.
Her first single smashed straight into number one in the Billboard charts in its first week and she hasn’t looked back since. The final 10 contestants from the show re-united for the “American Idol Tour”, a 30 date, 7 week Arena tour which took them from Seattle to New York playing to over 200,000 fans.
Kelly has already started to bare her soul on her album which will showcase the diversity of her voice in addition to her collaborations with many of today’s biggest writers including Rhett Lawrence and Walter A.. Kelly has been concentrating on edgy, R&B flavored tracks and yet would love to move into country or even do Broadway one day. “Maybe something that I write or sing will touch someone and then it’s all worth it. Why should you choose a genre? I love it all!”
And as if the music wasn’t enough, Simon Fuller struck a 15 million dollar movie feature deal with Fox allowing Kelly to showcase her acting and singing talents with American Idol runner up Justin Guarini. In January 2003, Kelly will star in her very own movie, “From Justin to Kelly” for release in April 2003. “This is an amazing opportunity,” she said. “One day I would like to work behind the cameras too producing my own work.”
“I’m not materialistic, but I am ambitious. I’d love to break globally and can’t wait to go to England. There is so much ahead of me and I’m really grateful for that. It all seems to be happening so quickly that it’s hard to stop and think. For now, I’m just glad to be in this position and to be able to have a job where I use my singing voice every day. I knew when I watched Jaws that marine biology just wasn’t for me!”
