Kelly Clarkson is planning her debut album in five years, which will include songs inspired by her separation and subsequent divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. The singer and television host disclosed the news to Variety, explaining that the songs on the album were composed during an emotionally charged, yet incredibly creative period in her life.
Clarkson and Blackstock married in October of 2013. In June 2020, she filed for divorce. In March 2022, the former couple reached an agreement on their divorce. “There were numerous feelings when my ex and I initially separated. “It was difficult,” Clarkson admits. “Last night, my producer and I were giggling because I was like, ‘Remember that time we wrote like, 25 songs in a week?'” A lot of those are included in the album. I literally wrote most of these over two years ago.”
Clarkson has released a Christmas album and a compilation of her “Kellyoke” covers from her talk show after her 2017 album, Meaning of Life, and she claims those lighter releases were somewhat planned as she continued to process her divorce.
Then I told my label, ‘I can’t talk about this until I’ve gone through it,’ and it’s simply taken some time,” she adds. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve done so much Christmas stuff in the last two years – I was like, ‘Well, that’s happy!'”
Clarkson says that the next album will be released in 2023 and will reflect a wide spectrum of emotions she has felt over the last few years. “Everything is on the CD,” she says. “It’s almost like a relationship’s arc, because the beginning is so beautiful and romantic, and then it evolves. And it doesn’t always evolve the way you want it to.”
The American Song Contest presenter says she’s not sure if she’ll release the vulnerable album, but she wants to be a sounding board for others who may be in a similar situation. She is also planning a future “therapeutic” tour where fans who relate to the song can “scream at the top of their lungs.”
“I’m over it now, but there’s someone else who is, and that’s a difficult place to be, especially if you feel alone,” Clarkson says. “It’s difficult to describe, difficult to go through in public, and especially difficult with children. This record, I believe I wrote it for a reason — not only for myself but perhaps for someone else.”
The title of the album and its official release date has yet to be disclosed. Clarkson has recently provided fans with new music, with the release of a new rendition of “9 to 5” on Sept. 9. She collaborated with Dolly Parton on the new version of the legendary song, which features in the new documentary Still Working 9 to 5, which was released earlier this year.
Kelly Clarkson has sold her former family home in Los Angeles’ affluent Encino neighborhood, more than a year after placing it for sale. The pop diva and TV personality received $8.24 million for the sale of her lavish 8-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 10,108-square-foot home, which was purchased in 2018 by her and her now ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock.