Kelly Clarkson_ 7 Times She Proved She's the QUEEN of Evolution
Kelly Clarkson_ 7 Times She Proved She's the QUEEN of Evolution
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00:00 The winner of American Idol 2002 is Kelly Clarkson.
00:07 From America's Sweetheart...
00:10 Everybody keeps asking me, "How do you feel?" and I'm like, "I don't even know."
00:13 I have so many feelings rushing over me.
00:15 To Grammy winner...
00:17 I completely lost it on the first award. I bawled. I don't even know what I said.
00:21 And now hosting her own talk show in the Big Apple.
00:27 It's kind of an amazing thing to have the opportunity in season 5 to start over.
00:31 So nobody really gets that, like another kind of revamp.
00:34 Kelly Clarkson's proved over two decades she's the queen of evolution.
00:39 So how'd she do it?
00:46 Well, it all started in 2002 with a little show called American Idol.
00:51 They liked it. They all were like... I mean, I was so happy because the British man didn't make me cry.
00:55 Kelly was a breakout star from her first audition.
00:59 At last, my love has come along.
01:06 My lonely days are over.
01:10 It's weird because we live kind of in a bubble. We don't have a CD out yet and people already know our name.
01:14 That's kind of weird.
01:16 Going on to become the long-running competition's first ever winner.
01:20 I'm like, how am I going to sing this next song while I'm crying? I don't know what to say.
01:25 A moment like this. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this.
01:35 I want to make songs I'm proud of something I can really be proud of.
01:41 Singing and standing in front of millions of all different types.
01:45 And she's got a lot to be proud of because in the years that followed, Kelly put out hit.
01:50 Because of you I never strayed too far from the sidewalk.
01:57 After hit.
01:59 Here I am once again. I'm torn into pieces.
02:04 After hit.
02:06 But since you've been gone, I can't breathe for the first time.
02:13 She even snagged her first Grammy in 2006.
02:17 Can you believe what just happened? I can't believe it. I know. Congratulations, dear.
02:21 Oh my God, I'm so on a cloud.
02:23 Kelly kept floating high, soaring into her next era as mentor in the music biz.
02:28 It's quite a ride.
02:30 In 2018, she joined NBC's The Voice as a coach.
02:34 He did that to me. Oh.
02:37 That just happened.
02:39 Kelly has absolutely no experience on this show whatsoever.
02:43 I mean, I mean, I mean, son.
02:45 I had enough experience that he had me mentor his team on the second season.
02:50 I was so nervous and Blake was making so much fun of me because I was nervous about it.
02:55 Because I it's different, you know, you even on TV when you watch you hear the singer differently than you hear in a room with all that like ambiance and and verb and everything.
03:04 After like six, I started getting the hang of it, but I think but I am really excited about my team, though.
03:12 They're really great. They're all different.
03:14 Yeah, Kelly got the hang of it and proved she has a thing for winning the first time around because her contestant, Brynn Cartelli, came out on top that year.
03:22 I just get so invested in these people and I see myself in them, obviously, like I was them.
03:28 But it is a beautiful thing to look at them and because a lot of people like you said, like haven't come like been huge from the show.
03:34 So it's nice to look at them and go, it can't happen like this.
03:37 This all this can happen.
03:39 Kelly spent eight seasons making moves in that red spinning chair, including adding talk show host to her resume with the launch of her self-titled series in 2019.
03:49 Working. It's where Kelly Oki was born.
04:01 Welcome to the Kelly Clarkson show. This is my first show.
04:05 It's a dream I didn't know I had. And I mean, it turned out to be like such a dream job.
04:10 Like, I love it. I love my team that I'm working with here. I actually love, you know, I love talking.
04:15 But it is different being on the other side behind the scenes.
04:19 Kelly was dealing with some changes at home, filing for divorce from her husband, Brandon Blackstock, after six years of marriage.
04:26 It happens. And that's why there's nothing to hide about it in that sense.
04:30 You know, it's just divorce is a really big thing.
04:35 But Kelly powered through. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
04:46 And life's been pretty sweet since that same year, Kelly took home her first Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show host.
04:53 Just like what is life? A few months later, Kelly's divorce was finalized.
04:59 It was the moment she marked with a name change, legally dropping Blackstock and Clarkson to simply be Kelly Brienne.
05:06 Because she said it, quote, "fully reflects who I am."
05:10 If someone doesn't know me, who's underneath? I'm broken and it's beautiful.
05:19 September 2022 brought another major milestone, a piece of history on Hollywood Boulevard, as Kelly received a star on the Walk of Fame.
05:28 I just feel very fortunate that I get the chance. And, you know, there are dreams you didn't know you had and they end up happening and you feel super blessed.
05:36 And I love having my kiddos here and my family.
05:39 You are cemented in history. What does this honor mean to you?
05:42 It's incredible. I mean, you know, you've seen these pictures since you were a kid, like right?
05:46 With all these major people that influenced you, like artistically in your life.
05:49 And it's cool to be a part of that. And especially like right in front of where I won 20 years ago.
05:54 Through it all, Kelly's kept music at the center of her universe, turning her pain into purpose.
06:00 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.
06:08 Kelly first got her feelings out through Kelly Oakey, putting twists on familiar tunes to tell us how she really feels about her ex.
06:16 Forget you and your dad and the fact that you got half and my broken heart.
06:23 Turn that in the office. Then she dropped Chemistry, her post divorce album.
06:29 My little you took it.
06:37 This album is definitely the arc of an entire relationship, you know, and a whole relationship shouldn't be just brought down to one thing.
06:44 So there's, you know, the good, the bad, the ugly kind of thing going on.
06:48 Amid the good, the bad and the ugly, Kelly's kept life going for her kiddos, daughter River Rose and son Remington, who are apparently big fans of their mama's music.
07:12 At her Las Vegas residency in August, Kelly's kids joined her for a special performance.
07:30 I am an open book, but at some point I'm a mama bear more than I am a person in the public eye.
07:36 So I care 100 percent more about my children than I do anything else on this planet.
07:42 And putting her family first meant another big change, a move for both Kelly and her talk show to New York City for a fresh start.
07:50 We've done all the things like that. We've walk around in the park like they just we just have more of a life.
07:55 This is what my goal was for us is to actually like engage outside of our house.
08:00 And you have to in New York. It's kind of an amazing thing to have the opportunity in season five to like start over.
08:06 So nobody really gets that like another kind of revamp. And so I literally even with wardrobe, I was like, let's revamp.
08:12 Let's go like a little elevated New York. And honestly, I think the energy of the people were finishing like 30 minutes early every day at the show.
08:19 Like we're it's just we're so on top of it. And life is good.
08:22 Yeah, life's good for Kelly and seemingly always getting better.
08:26 [Music]