Entertainment Weekly: Kelly in Control (May 2007)

8/14/2019 Entertainment Weekly: Kelly in Control (May 2007)

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Entertainment WeeklyApril May 2007

Kelly in ControlAs she readies for the release of ''My December,'' her third, very personal

CD, Kelly Clarkson invites EW over for an advance listen and opens up

about her struggle to be taken seriously as a songwriterBy Dave Karger

The welcome mat at her front door should have beenthe tip-off. As you enter Kelly Clarkson's Spanish-stylevilla two miles into the hills above L.A.'s HollywoodBoulevard, the first thing you notice after the hotpink Ford Mustang convertible in the driveway is thedark brown, rough-fiber doormat that greets guestswith one word: LEAVE.

Actually, Clarkson is a gracious host. Wearing a body-hugging Aerosmith tee and capri cargo pants, she

immediately offers a bottle of Smartwater and a tour ofher impressive digs (think leather sofas, red-felt pooltable, PlayStation). ''This is just where I crash when I'mhere,'' the Texas resident says modestly. Then, in herdouble-height living room, she sets up an iPod dockingstation to preview her forthcoming album, My

December (due June 26). While unboxing a giant photo collage of herself at thisyear's Daytona 500 sending Styrofoam peanuts flying she provides cheeryintros to the tracks. But after she sets up a hard-charging rocker called ''Hole'' (''Thisone's one of my favorites''), the sunniness disappears.

There's a hole inside of me/It's so damn cold, slowly killing me.

Whoa. What happened to the originalAmerican Idol whose favoritecatchphrases were ''Score!''''Sweet!'' and ''Cool beans!''? Forstarters, she's had a rough go of itsince releasing her last CD, 2004'smassively successful Breakaway, andshe's turned her experiences intosongs; she wrote or co-wrote everytrack on My December. ''The wholealbum is a story of the past twoyears, all the highs and lows,''Clarkson explains. (Okay...mostly thelows.) ''It deals with so manysituations, whether it's family,friends, relationships, or myself.'' Thefirst single is the glacial, Alanis-esque ''Never Again'' (opening lyric: ''I hope the ringyou gave to her turns her finger green''). ''That situation made me feel like, What'swrong with me that I would even let someone like you in my life?'' she says. Theautobiographical kiss-off to an ex rocketed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in itsvery first week.


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FINDING HER VOICE ''In a timewhen record labels are underincreased economic pressures, theyget nervous when a big-selling artistlike Kelly (seen on Idol Gives BackinApril) wants to take risks andevolve,'' says manager KwatinetzRay Mickshaw/American Idol/GettyImages for Fox

It's as promising a start as any artist could want for a new project. But when theartist is Kelly Clarkson, the stakes are unbelievably high. ''She's up there now in thetop five most important recording artists in the world, literally,'' saysAmerican Idol

judge Simon Cowell. That's no exaggeration: Breakaway sold 10 million copies,earning Clarkson two Grammy awards and crowning her the queen of pop radio.

So when Clarkson decided not to reunite with any of the producers who helped craftthat record's five ultra-catchy top 20 singles, insiders say that BMG Label Group'schairman, 40-year music veteran Clive Davis, sat on My Decemberfor four months,hoping she'd change her mind. She wouldn't.

''In a time when record labels are under increased economic pressures'' industryalbum sales are down 17 percent for '07 ''they get nervous when a big-sellingartist like Kelly wants to take risks and evolve,'' says Clarkson's manager, JeffKwatinetz, whose roster also includes Snoop Dogg, Mandy Moore, and Chris Cornell.''The pressure they put on this young woman to compromise herself and do anotherversion of the same record, I've never witnessed in my career.''

Davis wouldn't be interviewed for this story but said in an e-mail to EW: ''We are

setting up extensive plans to support Kelly's album in a major way, befitting herstatus as one of the world's best-selling artists. We fully expect that Kelly will have along-term, powerful career for many years to come.''

For all the controversy, the 14-song collection isn't such a departure from the hitsthat made Clarkson a star as to make you wonder What was she thinking?! Clearly,she's learned how to write catchy hooks while workingwith the likes of Max Martin and Dr. Luke (themasterminds behind ''Since U Been Gone''). And hervoice is as strong as ever, whether the song calls forPat Benatar-defiant (''One Minute'') or SarahMcLachlan-sensitive (''Sober'').

After the music ends, Clarkson begins to talk reallytalk about her fight for My December, her upcoming36-city summer tour, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you want tomake such a personal album right now?KELLY CLARKSON: All of my favorite records [Alanis Morissette's] Jagged Little Pill, any U2 record,[No Doubt's] Tragic Kingdom I love how it's like astory from beginning to finish. EspeciallyJagged LittlePill. The last song on [My December], ''Irvine,'' itliterally was the lowest point I've had in my life. Iwrote it after my Irvine [Calif.] show on my last tour. Iwas just so burned-out. I was really struggling atgetting somebody out of my life and finding peoplethat really cared. The whole song is a prayer. I wroteit in the bathroom of the venue after the show. I hadto cancel my meet-and-greet; it's the only meet-and-greet I've ever canceled. I couldn't smile. It was justa really, really bad night.


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WITH LABEL CHIEF DAVIS ''I don't like [ourdifferences] to get out in public,'' Clarkson says.''I don't want to be the Joan of Arc of the musicindustry.''Larry Busacca/WireImage.com

You use your upper register in so many of your songs. Is it hard to singthem on tour night after night?It's hard when you have to stay up there the whole song. ''Breakaway'' is reallychallenging. ''Never Again'' that's gonna be fun [sarcastically].

You look pretty normal to me right now, but people often comment on your

weight. [After her performance on theIdol Gives Back

charity show lastmonth, one message boarder dubbed her ''Mama Cass.''] Does that botheryou?

You're just like, Oh, well, that sucks. But at the end of the day, it doesn't suck thatmuch or else I'd do something about it. I work out when I want to work out; I don'twork out when I don't want to work out. After a long day and I'm tired, yeah, a cookiehelps. It makes me feel good. It's soul food! There's a reason why it's called that. Idrop, like, 15 pounds when I'm on tour.

It's pretty well-known that some of the powers that be at the label arenervous about the new record.Everybody wants to come out with the same thing and put beats on it. That's notwhere I am right now.

We met you on American Idolas a singer who performed other people'ssongs. So a lot of people don't realize you've already co-written hits like''Walk Away'' and ''Behind These Hazel Eyes.''Everybody doesn't like me writing all the time, no matter how many No. 1's youwrite. It's clearly like yelling at a brick wall. I won an [ASCAP] award recently for bestsong of the year [for ''Because of You'']. People just refuse to even look at statistics. Imean, is there something higher than No. 1 now? Have they gone to, like, thenegatives? People can't fathom that someone who is vocally talented could havesome kind of writing ability.

Why exactly are they so resistant to you writing?It's because I'm a woman because I'm a young woman. I literally heard someonesay it [during a conference call]. They didn't know I was on the phone. Like, really?We're living in what century? I hung up. I was like, I can't even address that. 'Causethat was the most ignorant thing I've ever heard.

For months after you delivered this record there was no word as to when,or whether, it was coming out. Did you have any contact with Clive Davis?I found out he was in L.A. I called himand was like, ''Why are we talkingthrough people, dude? Let's just meet.''He was like, ''I agree.'' So I went to hisbungalow where he stays here and wehad a nice talk for a couple hours. I waslike, ''You don't like the music; that'scool. You don't have to love it.'' There's

no hard feelings. And that's why I don'tlike [our differences] to get out in public.I don't want to be the Joan of Arc of themusic industry.

But he didn't toss your work in thetrash, right?Hell, he still could. That's the beauty ofmy life.


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Are you worried about how your fans will respond to the darker material?That was one of the label's things; they were like, ''It's just too negative.'' I'm like,''Well, I'm sorry I've inconvenienced you with my life.'' No, it doesn't say, ''I'm happy,I'm with a boy and having so much fun.'' But it's reality. I know it's not going to dowhat Breakawaydid, 'cause it's not as mainstream. I get that. Some of the songs are

not what 10-year-olds are probably going to listen to. But we all go through situationsfor certain reasons, and I think we should share that. This record is more intense, it'smore raw, it's more emotional. But it's not thatdifferent. It's not Metallica. Even if itdoes tank who cares? It's one album! Out of a whole career of albums I'm going tohave, you're worried about one? I'm not worried about it! And I'm obviously not goingto want to put out s---. I obviously don't want to fail. I'm not an idiot. Like Nebraskafrom Bruce Springsteen that's one of my favorite records, and it's not the mostwell-known. But it's an artist's record.

When you sit and think about it, are all the struggles you've been throughwith this record worth it?My whole mantra is ''It doesn't matter how big I get, there's always the smell of cows---.'' Because on my first tour, we played all these rodeos, and there literally wascow s--- everywhere. But maybe God puts the cow s--- there to drive me. Maybe it'sthere to push me.

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Entertainment Weekly: Kelly in Control (May 2007)