spotlight KELLY CLARKSON
MEANING OF LIFE THE GIRL NEXT DOOR ALL GROWN UP
By joel martens It’s hard to believe that this woman who has become such a powerful part of the musical landscape, burst on the
scene at the tender age of 20 in the inaugural season ofAmerican Idol back in 2002. Has it really only been 15 years, eight albums, 100 number ones on the Billboard charts, over 25 million albums and 36 million singles sold world- wide, later? If you’re talking about the many successes of Ms. Clarkson, you bet your sweet you-know-what it is.
She hasn’t stopped singing, writing and perfecting her sound over the course
of that 15 years. Even if you based success solely on her latest musical effort, Meaning of Life, it would still be resoundingly true. She is in her prime, singing with a confidence and power that puts her in a class with other, as she calls them, “bad-ass” singers. Names like Whitney, Barbra, Mariah and Aretha...Let’s just say, “Girl’s got pipes.” One of the things that makes her story unique, is that we have literally been
there to watch her come into her own as a performer and as someone who has discovered her own worth. She’s always managed to sing from a place of deep strength and vulnerability, making her eminently relatable and absolutely reachable, emotionally. Songs like, “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” “Piece by Piece,” or even when rocking out to “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” I mean, did you catch her performance during the last season of American Idol? Turn on the tears baby... I dare you not to cry. In her most recent effort, Clarkson is deeply there as well, but something has decidedly shifted. Though it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what it is, because she’s always been solidly confident. But, there is a calmness—even when she shines in her power ballads—that belies something more deeply grounded. Her voice is just as powerful as it has ever been, but there is a confidence there, indicating that the girl next door has stepped out and moved on to bigger and better things. I guess maybe the word for it is maturity… It was a fun conversation to have and we here atThe Rage Monthly are happy to share it with you.
I love to ask singers/musicians this question: What is your earliest memory around music?
Hmm...My earliest memory of music? Singing in church, man. That’s probably
it...yeah. It was my favorite part of church, (laughs) singing was the fun part for a kid. This was sometime around elementary school, so you don’t really understand all that’s being said, but I absolutely understood and totally loved the music.
I ask, because it’s usually something like church music or something a parent played as a kid. It’s a pretty common denominator for musicians. Along those early lines, when did you figure out that you could sing well? You know what? I actually didn’t have a clue until I was around 13 or so. I was wandering around the hallway of my junior high helping teachers. It was before the school year started and because my mom was a teacher too, I was helping them move from classroom to classroom. The new choir director heard me sing- ing in the hallway to whatever was playing—I think it was Mariah Carey—over the school PA system and she said to me, “Oh my god, you have to be in choir.” I was like, “Oh my god, no. I’m sorry but that’s for nerds.” (Laughs) I was into athletics and all that, so my answer was “Nah, I’m good.” She didn’t let it go and told me that she thought I sang really, really well
and talked to me more about joining. “I don’t know if you’ve thought about college, but if you work really hard at it, you could probably get a scholarship for college.” I remember thinking oh man, I’m really poor so I could use that for sure. (Laughs) So, she convinced me to audition and I did get in. In the classroom after, they had all the girls around the piano trying to figure out where to put us, alto, soprano or whatever. We started doing scales, I’d never done scales before and it was really kind of the most mortifying and yet the most awesome moment. I was standing in front with this other girl and all of a sudden people stopped singing and I just kept following the piano. I remember turning really, really red, and thinking “Oh my god, this is embarrassing. I must sound horrible...Was I supposed to stop?” Then all the girls kind of looked at me and one of them said, “Oh man, you can go really high.” I figured out that maybe that was a cool thing and then all of a sudden, in that
little moment, everything absolutely did change in my life. It really did give me a different level of confidence, sort of that feeling of “Oh, I’m actually good at something.” I think once kids find something that they’re good at, it makes them proud and gives you a different sense of yourself. It did change everything, not just because of the music, but because of who I am…it really formed my character.
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RAGE monthly | NOVEMBER 2017
| NOVEMBER 2017
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