Kelly Clarkson turns on the moxie for her new 'Life'
June 12, 2009
NEW YORK -- Kelly Clarkson can't stop saying she's sorry. Having shown up 10 minutes late for a morning interview -- she had trouble dozing off the night before, then overslept, she explains -- the normally punctual singer spends much of the next 10 minutes apologizing for everything from her tardiness to her appearance.
"Do you know what it's like when you've just woken up and your lips are all huge and your face is swollen?" Clarkson asks. "Every time I talk, I keep licking my lips. They must look monstrous. I must look like a platypus."
Kelly Clarkson brings her new "Life" to Chicago this weekend.
B96 SUMMER BASHWITH THE BLACK EYED PEAS, KELLY CLARKSON, AKON, FLO RIDA AND MORE5 p.m. Saturday
Toyota Park, 7000 S. Harlem, Bridgeview
Tickets, $22-$122
(800) 745-3000; ticketmaster.com
In truth, sitting in a hotel lounge in jeans and a T-shirt, her wholesomely pretty face free of makeup except for a touch of mascara, Clarkson doesn't resemble a platypus any more than she does a pop star. Seven years after rocketing to fame as the first winner of "American Idol," the 27-year-old still exudes a disarming normalcy. She admits she can be "very self-conscious," if you hadn't already drawn that conclusion, but that's not to say Clarkson lacks confidence or cultivates a more fabulous image.
"I live on a ranch in Texas and do my own thing," she says. "And I don't care what anyone has to say about it. My joke is that the only people I'm trying to please are myself and my fans, because they're the ones buying my records. And I have the best, most loyal fan base ever."
That mix of graciousness, candor and moxie informs her new album, "All I Ever Wanted," which racked up a million-plus-selling No. 1 single with the thumping "My Life Would Suck Without You." Clarkson co-wrote a number of songs on the album, her collaborators this time including pop savants such as Ryan Tedder, Sam Watters and Louis Bianciello, plus veteran rock producer Howard Benson.
"Variety" is the key factor, Clarkson says, with influences ranging from "British punk to a kind of R&B/hip-hop feel to a colorful '70s rock vibe."
She acknowledges that "a lot of cooks" helped determine the lineup. "There's the team at my label, my management and me. But for this album, pretty much everyone agreed on most of the songs."
By most accounts, including Clarkson's own, the process behind her last album was more tortured. In promoting 2007's "My December," the singer spoke frankly about the creative differences that delayed its release. Her previous outing, 2004's "Breakaway," for which Clarkson had helped write about half the songs, was an unqualified success; it has sold 6 million copies. But the singer suggested that label executives weren't as supportive. Though sales for "My December" fell below expectations, she maintains that it wasn't a conscious departure from her previous work.
"It was a shock to me when the album came out and people were like, 'Oh, she's departing from pop.' I think 'How I Feel,' which is on that album, is the most poppy song I've ever written. It was a different album than 'Breakaway,' but when I came out with 'Breakaway,' people also thought I was moving away from pop. 'Oh, she's doing rock.' And there was some backlash there, too."
She still recalls, drily, having to "really fight" for the breakthrough single "Miss Independent."
"Then it ended up being No. 1 for seven weeks and everyone else took credit. That's why on 'Breakaway' they were willing to let me do stuff like 'Since U Been Gone.' It's like taking baby steps. Now, four albums in, people understand that I love and can sing different kinds of music."
The corporate clashes and changes of management that have marked Clarkson's post-"Idol" tenure, she says, "have taught me that, one, I can't control everything, and, two, what I can control should be positive." Hence her switch from bigwig manager Jeff Kwatinetz to Narvel Blackstock, whose other clients include his wife (and Clarkson's sometime duet partner) Reba McEntire.
"Jeff was a great manager, but we continued to disagree on one thing: He wanted to manage the biggest pop star in the world, and that has never been and will never be a goal of mine. That's way too much pressure. At the end of the day, I want to do things that will make me happy, and Narvel gets that."
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/1618956,WKP-News-kelly12North.article
