Kelly Clarkson says one of Garth Brooks’ biggest hits has helped her cope with her divorce from Brandon Blackstock.
On Monday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Clarkson told the country superstar that his song “The Dance” has been a light for her in a dark time.
“I couldn’t quite nail down the feeling,” she said. “I was, like, well, you don’t want to crap on it. Like, you don’t want to say that didn’t count or matter, but you don’t know what to put in it because it didn’t work out how you wanted and so, anyway, I kid you not, I was listening to my playlist and ‘The Dance’ came on and I was like, ‘No, that’s the thing. That’s it.’”
Clarkson, who has two kids with Blackstock, also told Brooks she’s written a song for her upcoming album that features the words “the dance” in it.
“So, it’s not like your song, like a rip-off, but I literally wrote this whole thing, like therapeutically, for me it’s actually on my next album and it’s the whole kind of come around, like the little tag part is like, ‘Even though my heart is broken, it was worth the dance, anyway,’” she said, singing what could be featured on the next album.
“And it’s like this whole thing ... I think what’s interesting about it is, I sang that song from childhood and it never hit me,” she added.
“That’s a great song right there,” Brooks said. “That’s the character of a great song.”
“Because it is true,” Clarkson, 38, told Brooks. “I think a lot of people who go through such a devastating, there’s a lot of grief and a lot of loss, and a lot of change, especially with kids."
Clarkson said people have given her certain books to help her make sense of the divorce, but Brooks’ song really resonated with her.
“All the books were helpful, but it’s so funny, I guess, because I’m a musician, but I was listening in my room and I was just like, ‘Oh my god’ and I was listening to ‘The Dance’ and that’s like the one hook of it, but it was like the whole point," she said. "I got the point.”
In another part of the interview, Clarkson also said her song “Piece By Piece” has taken on a new meaning for her.
“It never impacted me until I became a parent because then I knew what a parent should be and what it felt like and I was like, ooh, I didn’t really know the loss, I didn’t know the impact,” she said.
Clarkson said she wrote the song for her daughter and Blackstock, who was her husband at the time, but she’s come full circle while offering another peek at her new album.
“Literally, there’s a lyric on my new album in a song called ‘Rock Hudson,’ and it’s like, ‘By the way, piece by piece, I found out my hero’s me.’”