Kelly Clarkson is at 30 Rock today in New York City promoting the new season of her afternoon talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show.
On the Today show plaza this morning, the OG American Idol winner surprised Jade, an aspiring music educator and performer, as she sang “Since You Been Gone” on the Plaza alongside the Today show hosts.
The singer, who will begin her Junior year at New York University this fall, has been singing since she was a kid. “I’ve been singing, according to my family, since I was 2 years old,” Jade said.
When host Hoda Kotb asked her to sing a few bars of the song, Kelly snuck up behind her to sing along. “That was so good,” Kelly said of Jade’s performance after they exchanged a big hug. Then, the two singers harmonized on the song for real. Kelly teased that she stole her riff and would keep it.
This week, Kelly kicked off her nationwide search to find the best singers in America by inviting fans to sing a virtual duet of “Since U Been Gone” with her on TikTok or in person at several cities across the country.
She’s transformed her tour bus into a “Kellyoke” sound stage, which will be visiting Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles next after its New York City stop. According to Kelly, one person will win in each city and will perform on The Kelly Clarkson Show, which premieres on Monday September 12.
She was on American Idol? Carson joked. Wrong show!
Inside, Kelly sat with Hoda and Carson Daly to chat about the upcoming season of The Kelly Clarkson Show, why she took the summer off with her kids (which meant not coaching on the Fall cycle of The Voice) and more.
When Hoda introduced Kelly as the first winner of American Idol, that “other show,” Carson, who hosts The Voice joked “What? She was on American Idol! Wrong show!”
Hoda mentioned that she and Kelly hosted a show together, and she predicted out loud that Kelly would helm her own show one day. For her part, Kelly had no idea how the odds are stacked against new talk shows. Most of them fail. She says she could have never worked under that kind of pressure.
Kelly and her Kids Vacation in Montana with her Ex Husband Nearby
Over the summer, Kelly and her kids River and Remy spent the summer at her Montana property. “I hadn’t had a minute,” she says, “It’s obviously been a rough couple of years.” Indeed, she separated from her then husband, Brandon Blackstock in 2020 and it took two years to sort out the divorce.
She evicted Brandon from her property in June. But he lives in a house nearby. “The kids were with me and their dad. It was nice because they usually have to travel a lot because of our seperation. We were both in Montana.” Kelly added that it was the first time her kids “felt a little more centered.”
