Kelly Clarkson To Clive Davis: I Refuse to Be Bullied (Liar Liar Pants on Fire)

By On 02/19/2013 · 143 Comments · In American Idol, Kelly Clarkson

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Kelly Clarkson FIRES BACK at Clive Davis. Check out what she wrote on her WhoSay page in response to Clive’s account of the My December fiasco:

ETA: WOW.  No wonder Kelly is pissed. The story Clive tells in his book is DRAMATICALLY different than Kelly’s version. For instance he denies ever rejecting the song “Because of You”–a story Kelly has told to the press on many occasions over the years.   “I loved the song from first listen and felt that it delivered on the promise that Kelly could indeed write hits.”  Clive wrote, “It is well known that we trumpeted it to everyone in [the record company] promotion [department].” Oh really Clive?

ABC News Radio has a point by point analysis of the differences between the two stories.  Click to read it here.  Also, The Hollywood Reporter has transcribed passages from the book that relate to Kelly.

So I just heard Clive Davis is releasing a memoir and spreading false information about me and my music. I refuse to be bullied and I just have to clear up his memory lapses and misinformation for myself and for my fans. It feels like a violation. Growing up is awesome because you learn you don’t have to cower to anyone – even Clive Davis.

First, he says I burst into “hysterical sobbing” in his office when he demanded Since You Been Gone be on my album. Not true at all. His stories and songs are mixed up. I did want more guitars added to the original demo and Clive did not. Max, Luke and I still fought for the bigger sound and we prevailed and I couldn’t be more proud of the life of that song. I resent him dampening that song in any way.

But, yes, I did cry in his office once. I cried after I played him a song I had written about my life called “Because Of You.” I cried because he hated it and told me verbatim that I was a “sh*tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me.” He continued on about how the song didn’t rhyme and how I should just shut up and sing. This was devastating coming from a man who I, as a young girl, considered a musical hero and was so honored to work with.

But I continued to fight for the song and the label relented. And it became a worldwide hit. He didn’t include that in the book.

He also goes on to say My December wasn’t successful because I co-penned the album and it didn’t have “pop hits”. Well, first let me say, I’ve co-penned many of my “pop hits.” Secondly, My December went platinum (It sold 20,000 less than All I Ever Wanted which followed My December.) Hardly a huge failure. Never Again, the ONLY single they released in the US from that record was a Top 10 hit. I am very proud of that and I have my fans to thank. But, again, what’s most interesting about his story is what he leaves out: He doesn’t mention how he stood up in front of his company at a convention and belittled me and my music and completely sabotaged the entire project. It never had a chance to reach it’s full potential. My December was an album I needed to make for myself for many reasons and the fact that I was so completely disregarded and disrespected was so disheartening, there really aren’t words to explain….

Anyway, I love my job. I love my music. I love my fans. I love my label and all of my professional relationships… now. And I am grateful for Clive for teaching me to know the difference.

Cheers to another amazing year! And, as always, thanks for listening!

KC

Kudos to Kelly for speaking truth to power.  I never doubted that Clive, out of spite, did everything he could to spike My December, whether it was out of spite, or to just teach Kelly and her team a lesson. If Clive were a thoughtful guy, he’d be taking at least SOME responsibility for the failure of My December.  But instead, he proceeded to belittle and attempted to humiliate Kelly all over again.  It takes a lot of guts to stand up to a guy who is so revered (and feared) in the record industry.  I really admire Kelly for standing up for herself.

Kelly survived that difficult experience and continues to THRIVE.  That’s why she’s QUEEN KELLY y’all.

And as a side note:  Clive’s account that Kelly did not want “Since U Been Gone” on her album? Does that EVEN pass the smell test?

GO KELLY GO KELLY #TEAMKELLY.

 
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  • windmills

    Currently lost in the Never Again/Idol Gives Back debate is the fact that Kelly subsequently performed Never Again at the Idol finale later that same season (the s6 finale in 2007).

    I don’t have to think Kelly was mistake-free during the My December battles to be able to a) sympathize with her state of mind at the time, b) believe she has still earned the lion’s share of the benefit of the doubt, and c) believe those battles shaped her for the better today. As far as Clive, I’m just not interested.

    mjsbigblog: Let’s not even start about how he dragged Whitney Houston back into the spotlight before she was ready.

    Yeah, that.

  • julesb2183

    If what Kelly said is true, Clive was in the wrong, but I agree that MD was by far the worst album she made. She could have compromised a bit and put some of the worse songs aside on the album (You can’t tell me that “Yeah” was so artistically important it HAD to be on the album). That might have helped her situation to put one or two label sanctioned hits on the record, especially since Breakaway was so successful. 

  • CB40

    God I love Kelly and always will appreciate her HONESTY.

  • Incipit

    It’s not so much that Clive forgets the facts and misremembers, and it’s not so much that he lies, which he does.

    It’s the fact that he mis-remembers the facts into a whole new story because he forgets the lies he previously told, that make the unverified “Memoirs” a waste of time. 

    I really hope Kelly just ignores any further comment. Her position is clearly stated, and her story hasn’t changed. IMO.

  • HighOnElliott

    Besides the fact that Kelly can sing literally anything (and live, no less), I think my absolute favorite thing about her is that she isn’t a FemBot……She’s got stellar natural ability that isn’t manufactured on the assembly line, and deals with the media as a human, and not a programmed machine….. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/maribassig Mari Bassig

    This feud sort of reminds me of the powerplay between Motolla and Mariah Carey in the 90′s with the former also sabotaging the latter. These old record execs will really do anything to bring anyone down so I am a bit worried for Kelly. But I also doubt Davis would still have enough clout in the music industry to bring Kelly down especially after a successful past two years with Stronger. She has a good ground to once again prove Davis wrong. 

  • heartly

    With her coming out and saying that his recollection of some of these
    events that occurred don’t exact jive with hers, I wonder how many other
    things in the book aren’t exactly factually sound? I’m not going to give the man any of my money, but it does make me wonder. I also wonder if there’s a chapter on Hall & Oates in there? Daryl Hall also had a major run-in with Clive back in the day and he walked away and they were released.

    I’ve been observing something interesting on the internet today, not many are coming out with support on Clive’s side (so far) outside of Roger Friedman who claims Kelly still doesn’t get it except he’s not understanding what Kelly was getting at today but, I digress… there have been many voicing support for Kelly. Clive has had many successes but he’s also crossed a lot of people in his time, yet not many have stood up and voiced it. Kelly has and I think there are a lot in the industry that are applauding her for doing this, it takes guts to speak up against someone that has held the power he has. Several of these people have had run-ins with the man themselves and I bet they wished they had a platform at the time to say something.

    On a sidenote, I’d hate to be her publicist and manager today. But I would’ve loved to have seen her phone and the messages she received.  lol

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/F7VXHJVKHMRZ7GGUJOZXBAXZ3I matthew t

    Celebrity? What celebrity antics has this woman shown? The only times I’ve seen any controversy about her was in 2007, when this debacle began, Halo vs. Already Gone, and right now with Clive smearing and changing his tune to what actually happened. All incidents are music related. You never hear her with diva-like antics and making outlandish demands. You never see her at the Hollywood hotspots. She stays in Nashville and/or Texas (I can’t remember). If she was out to promote herself, she would have. Her label apparently gave her the go so if she was truly out to promote herself on the show that jumpstarted her career, she could have. But she didn’t! She sang a rousing rendition of Up To The Mountain, which arguably put the song on the map and probably did more to help the charity than her single would have ever done. It doesn’t make sense that you’re arguing that she is out to promote herself and yet she didn’t.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    “With her coming out and saying that his recollection of some of these events that occurred don’t exact jive with hers, I wonder how many other things in the book aren’t exactly factually sound?”

    Exactly. If Clive’s recounting of Kelly’s events are so off, then I suspect that his “recollection” of other events and artists is also similarly off.

    Incipit wrote:

    “It’s not so much that Clive forgets the facts and misremembers, and it’s not so much that he lies, which he does.

    It’s the fact that he mis-remembers the facts into a whole new story because he forgets the lies he previously told, that make the unverified “Memoirs” a waste of time. ”

    Yep. A person has to be really smart to be a great liar, because you have to remember all of the lies that you’ve told to whom and when. Most charitably, Clive probably “remembers” a lot of events (not just Kelly’s) very differently from how they really happened (despite having 5 “independent individuals” verify his every move lol ).

  • Jae

    #teamkelly!

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    Clive never liked Taylor Hicks. They never got along and clashed while making the album. So Clive decided to release Taylor’s album without an advance single or promoting any single to radio

    I remember hearing about it at the time.  American Idol and Clive David never gave Taylor Hicks the respect he deserved.  His sales would have been higher if a single was released and the album promoted.  What a jerk.

    #Team Kelly

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    Kelly handled this situation well.  She has viewed her opinion of what Clive wrote, now it is time to move on.

    I am curious to know what he said about Janis Joplin who isn’t here to disagree.

  • suenigma

    I agree that what Clive and Idol did to Taylor was appalling, and what he did to Bo Bice’s career (who he liked!) was even worse.

  • Incipit

     I also wonder if there’s a chapter on Hall & Oates in there? Daryl Hall also had a major run-in with Clive back in the day and he walked away and they were released.

    I’m wondering if there is a chapter, or even a mention of Milli Vanilli, heartly, that whole fiasco. Not that I wouldn’t expect it to be Spin City, if there were one, but perhaps the Teflon is wearing off the Dark Lord?

    So many of these incidents that involved run-ins are from “back in the day” – no wonder it’s the re-smear of Kelly he went for to get relevant publicity for his book. She’s in the news right now. He doesn’t need the money – he’s looking for a Permanent Record that slants in his favor, I’m thinking. Was it Kirsten or Windmills who said “Mary Sue”??

    Cracked me right up – The Dark Lord of the Sith sees himself as a Mary Sue – Robbie Burns was so right. Heh.

    Ah well, there goes his wedding invitation. Heh. , because I doubt his name was ever near the guest list, even before he started spinning his story. IMO. Of Course.

  • CB40

    Kelly is too far along in her amazing 10-year, 5-album, perform for the President career for anything like this to bring her down.

  • irockhard

    Worth noting: While Clarkson says that after “Never Again,” there were no more singles released off that album, and Davis says there were three more — neither statement is a correct. “Sober” was the second and only other U.S. single, charting at No. 110.

    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/idol-worship/kelly-clarkson-slams-clive-davis-422397

    This is probably a matter of semantics but IMO there’s a difference between releasing a song and releasing a single. Sober was released and sent to radio but it was not supported, they just threw it out there and let it die.

  • ANNIEBA

    A little late to this, but good for Kelly for putting her side out there! I love her spunk and honesty!

  • http://twitter.com/shoriagirl Shoriagirl

    Publicity stunt.

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