Who wouldn’t cotton to the idea of Kelly Clarkson unleashed? She remains not just the very first singer to have emerged from America’s preoccupation with televised singing playoffs but still far and away the worthiest. Finding a style worthy of her has been spotty, though. Hitting her 30s, Clarkson seemed to find her pop stride, but she followed her best album, “Stronger,” with her most meh, “Piece by Piece.” It didn’t feel like she necessarily spent all that time chafing under the constraints of the label execs and producers she’s sometimes taken public issue with, but if Clarkson tells us it took until “Meaning of Life” to realize her true self on record, we’ll take her word for it.
That true self, as you may have heard, is as a soul woman. Feeling her pure pop side was played out, she’s now aiming to reincarnate as the Dalai Aretha — that is, an R&B-based belter who could’ve been on the Atlantic Records roster Back In The Day. It’s hard to take major issue with the move. Her voice for this type of material is too big to fail, and her heart could hardly be more in the right place. Compared to “Piece by Piece,” “Meaning of Life” sounds like Ruth Brown, Ben E. King, and Wilson Pickett put together.
What is that great sound on Kelly Clarkson’s new album? It is proud, it is sexy, it is funny. Oh, yes, that is the sound of freedom. ing of Life,” her first album since leaving long-time home Sony, the former “American Idol” winner sOn “Meaneems liberated, more soulful and less poppy. Independence definitely suits her.
“Thought I could never leave?” she sings on the terrific “I Don’t Think About You,” which is a breakup song that could easily apply to her former employers. “After all that I’ve been through, nothin’ left to prove.”
Her last album, 2015’s “Piece by Piece,” was almost mournful in contrast to the 14-track “Meaning of Life,” which is brimming with humor, sass and light. It’s not hard to imagine Clarkson smiling a lot in the recording studio.
“I’m hotter than your mama’s supper, boy,” she teases in “Whole Lotta Woman,” a bluesy, foot-stomper that borrows the horn section from Earth, Wind & Fire and might steam up your mirrors. “Hold on tight little country boy/I ain’t no girl/I’m a boss with orders.”
And Kelly Clarkson combined her two passions in life as she took her daughters, Savannah, 16, and River Rose, three, to the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday.
The singer, 35, glittered in a glamorous black and gold ensemble as she joined her girls on the red carpet at the star-studded event.
Speaking on the red carpet at the star-studded awards' ceremony, Kelly told E! News: 'It's a girls. They look beautiful. They’re color-coordinated. They’re beautiful, and they love this kind of stuff - more than their mom!'
Clarkson has never shied away from discussing her private time with Blackstock, 43, with whom she shares 5-year-old daughter River and 3-year-old son Remy. She is also the stepmother to the talent manager’s 17-year-old daughter, Savannah, and 12-year-old son, Seth, from his previous marriage to Melissa Ashworth.
“Any time we’re in a discussion about sex with a bunch of couples, Brandon and I stay pretty quiet. To keep it family appropriate, let’s say we’re just a lot more active than other couples,” the “Since U Been Gone” singer told Redbook in November 2017. “I’m a person who loves change. He loves spontaneity. Having a set time or place [to have sex] would be boring to us.”
Clarkson explained to the magazine at the time that she “was looking for a lover” and not a friend when she met her now-husband. “I had never found someone I was truly passionate about, who I wanted to stay in bed with all day,” she added. “The fact that I did, well … I was going to latch on and take advantage of that.”
Unlikely Celebrity Couples The couple started dating in 2012 and tied the knot in Tennessee in October 2013.
The Kelly Clarkson Show airs weekdays. Check your local listings.
Kelly Clarkson is a master at giving the perfect present, at least when it comes to her husband, Brandon Blackstock.
Ahead of the holidays “Love So Soft” singer, 37, celebrated her husband’s 43rd birthday and got him a gift that both of them could enjoy.
“My husband’s birthday was yesterday, so I got him two snowmobiles,” Clarkson told Us Weekly at The Voice finale in Universal Studios, California earlier this month. “Kind of for me too, because I want to ride one!”
The snowmobiles were a fitting gift indeed since the “Because of You” singer revealed that she and her family would be spending the holidays in Montana, because “I have a ranch y’all.”