As 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 songwriter.
The welcome mat at her front door should have been the tip-off. As আপনি enter Kelly Clarkson's Spanish-style উদ্যানবাটি two miles into the hills above L.A.'s Hollywood Boulevard, the first thing আপনি notice — after the hot পরাকাষ্ঠা Ford আমেরিকার বন্য ঘোড়াবিশেষ পরিবর্তনযোগ্য in the driveway — is the dark brown, rough-fiber doormat that greets guests with 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 of her impressive digs (think leather sofas, red-felt pool table, PlayStation). ''This is just where I crash when I'm here,'' the Texas resident says modestly. Then, in her double-height living room, she sets up an iPod docking station to প্রিভিউ her forthcoming album, My December (due June 26). While unboxing a giant ছবি collage of herself at this year's Daytona 500 — sending Styrofoam পিনাটস্ flying — she provides cheery intros to the tracks. But after she sets up a hard-charging rocker called ''Hole'' (''This one'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 original American Idol whose পছন্দ catchphrases were 'Score!' 'Sweet!' and 'Cool beans!'? For starters, she's had a rough go of it since releasing her last CD, 2004's massively successful Breakaway, and she's turned her experiences into songs; she wrote অথবা co-wrote every track on My December. ''The whole album is a story of the past two years, all the highs and lows,'' Clarkson explains. (Okay... Mostly the lows.) ''It deals with so many situations, whether it's family, friends, relationships, অথবা myself.'' The first single is the glacial, Alanis-esque ''Never Again'' (opening lyric: ''I hope the ring আপনি gave to her turns her finger green''). ''That situation made me feel like, What's wrong with me that I would even let someone like আপনি in my life?'' she says. The autobiographical kiss-off to an ex rocketed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its very first week.
It's as promising a start as any artist could want for a new project. But when the artist is Kelly Clarkson, the stakes are unbelievably high. ''She's up there now in the শীর্ষ five most important recording artists in the world, literally,'' says American Idol judge Simon Cowell. That's no exaggeration: Breakaway sold 10 million copies, earning Clarkson two Grammy awards and crowning her the কুইন of pop radio.
So when Clarkson decided not to reunite with any of the producers who helped craft that record's five ultra-catchy শীর্ষ 20 singles, insiders say that BMG Label Group's chairman, 40-year সঙ্গীত veteran Clive Davis, sat on My December for four months, hoping she'd change her mind. She wouldn't.
'In a time when record labels are under increased economic pressures' — industry album sales are down 17 percent for '07 — 'they get nervous when a big-selling artist like Kelly wants to take risks and evolve,' says Clarkson's manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, whose roster also includes Snoop Dogg, Mandy Moore, and Chris Cornell. 'The pressure they put on this young woman to compromise herself and do another version of the same record, I've never witnessed in my career.'
Davis wouldn't be interviewed for this story but ব্যক্ত in an e-mail to EW: 'We are setting up extensive plans to support Kelly's album in a major way, befitting her status as one of the world's best-selling artists. We fully expect that Kelly will have a long-term, powerful career for many years to come.'
For all the controversy, the 14-song collection isn't such a departure from the hits that made Clarkson a তারকা as to make আপনি wonder What was she thinking?! Clearly, she's learned how to write catchy hooks while working with the likes of Max Martin and Dr. Luke (the masterminds behind 'Since U Been Gone'). And her voice is as strong as ever, whether the song calls for Pat Benatar-defiant ('One Minute') অথবা Sarah McLachlan-sensitive ('Sober').
After the সঙ্গীত ends, Clarkson begins to talk — really talk — about her fight for My December, her upcoming 36-city summer tour, and more.
Why did আপনি want to make such a personal album right now?
All of my পছন্দ records — [Alanis Morissette's] Jagged Little Pill, any U2 record, [No Doubt's] Tragic Kingdom — I প্রণয় how it's like a story from beginning to finish. Especially Jagged Little Pill. The last song on [My December], 'Irvine,' it literally was the lowest point I've had in my life. I wrote it after my Irvine [California] প্রদর্শনী on my last tour. I was just so burned-out. I was really struggling at getting somebody out of my life and finding people that really cared. The whole song is a prayer. I wrote it in the bathroom of the venue after the show. I had to বাতিল my meet-and-greet; it's the only meet-and-greet I've ever canceled. I couldn't smile. It was just a really, really bad night.
You use your upper register in so many of your songs. Is it hard to sing them on tour night after night?
It's hard when আপনি have to stay up there the whole song. 'Breakaway' is really challenging. 'Never Again' — now that's gonna be fun.
You look pretty normal to me right now, but people often মতামত on your weight. [After her performance on the Idol Gives Back charity প্রদর্শনী last month, one message boarder dubbed her 'Mama Cass.'] Does that bother you?
You're just like, Oh, well, that sucks. But at the end of the day, it doesn't suck that much অথবা else I'd do something about it. I work out when I want to work out; I don't work out when I don't want to work out. After a long দিন and I'm tired, yeah, a cookie helps. It makes me feel good. It's soul food! There's a reason why it's called that. I drop, like, 15 pounds when I'm on tour.
It's pretty well-known that some of the powers that be at the label are nervous about the new record.
Everybody wants to come out with the same thing and put beats on it. That's not where I am right now.
We met আপনি on American Idol as a singer who performed other people's songs. 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 লেখা all the time, no matter how many No. 1's আপনি write. It's clearly like yelling at a brick wall. I won an [ASCAP] award recently for best song of the বছর [for 'Because of You']. People just refuse to even look at statistics. I mean, is there something higher than No. 1 now? Have they gone to, like, the negatives? People can't fathom that someone who is vocally talented could have some kind of লেখা ability.
Why exactly are they so resistant to আপনি writing?
It's because I'm a woman — because I'm a young woman. I literally heard someone say 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. 'Cause that was the most ignorant thing I've ever heard.
For months after আপনি delivered this record there was no word as to when, অথবা whether, it was coming out. Did আপনি have any contact with Clive Davis?
I found out he was in L.A. I called him and was like, 'Why are we talking through people, dude? Let's just meet.' He was like, 'I agree.' So I went to his bungalow where he stays here and we had a nice talk for a couple hours. I was like, 'You don't like the music; that's cool. আপনি don't have to প্রণয় it.' There's no hard feelings. And that's why I don't like [our differences] to get out in public. I don't want to be the Joan of Arc of the সঙ্গীত industry.
But he didn't toss your work in the trash, right?
Hell, he still could. That's the beauty of my life.
Are আপনি worried about how your অনুরাগী 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 আপনি 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 do what Breakaway did, '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 situations for certain reasons, and I think we should share that. This record is আরো intense, it's আরো raw, it's আরো emotional. But it's not that different. It's not Metallica. Even if it does tank — who cares? It's one album! Out of a whole career of albums I'm going to have, you're worried about one? I'm not worried about it! And I'm obviously not going to want to put out s---. I obviously don't want to fail. I'm not an idiot. Like Nebraska from Bruce Springsteen — that's one of my পছন্দ records, and it's not the most well-known. But it's an artist's record.
When আপনি sit and think about it, are all the struggles you've been through with this record worth it?
My whole mantra is 'It doesn't matter how big I get, there's always the smell of cow s---.' Because on my first tour, we played all these rodeos, and there literally was cow s--- everywhere. But maybe God puts the cow s--- there to drive me. Maybe it's there to push me.
