Kelly Clarkson is using the heartbreak over her divorce from her husband of seven years, Brandon Blackstock, to fuel her new album. A split made all the more contentious as the singer has also filed a fraud claim against her ex’s management company accusing him of defrauding her through “illegal services.”
During a press junket for The Voice, Clarkson revealed to Entertainment Tonight, “I have written like 60 songs. It is an insane amount of getting it out. I think that’s a blessing in itself.” She added, “Anytime you go through some life, it’s such an awesome thing to have that outlet, regardless of whether people hear it or not.” But while her music has served as a source of therapy for the pop star, it’s also left her wondering how much of her personal life she should expose in her work. “I have this record that we’re working on. It’s really great and really honest,” Clarkson said. “There’s just a lot of questions that I have to answer before releasing it for myself, you know? Whether that be business-wise or personally or whatever.” But, she added, “Whatever happens though, it is such a gift. I don’t know how anybody—I’ll just be real with you—goes through grief like divorce, any kind of grief, any kind of loss, without having an outlet like this.”
Clarkson explained that any time she writes music that draws from her real-life experiences, she had to ask herself, “What are you willing to put out there?” She added, “I hate that I had to go through ‘Because of You’ or ‘Piece by Piece’ [moments]. Certain songs that I’ve written certainly have shaped me, but have been really hard. They’re just difficult decisions to put those out because they’re so personal. But the other side of [it] is like, man, how many people have come up to me [saying things] like, ‘You have no idea. I never wanted to talk about it. I never have told anyone this.’”
She also said she relates to the catharsis her songs provide for her fans because “Music has that way [of healing], even for me. I listen to other artists and music as a way of ‘healing you,’” like her co-star John Legend‘s album which she says helped her “through the worst moments of my emotional life.” Clarkson concluded, “It’s a really important thing that we remember we are a really important vessel for a lot of messages that people need to hear.”
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