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Kelly Clarkson announces new album and how her divorce played a role

Clarkson says she'll be releasing her new album in 2023.

Kelly Clarkson is getting back into the music game.

In a new interview with Variety, Clarkson, 40, revealed she's recorded her new album and plans to release it in 2023. Thanks to her taking some time off this summer in Montana, Clarkson felt ready to release some new music for her fans.

"I had some time, finally. I’ve never had a summer off since I was, like, 16, and I was like, 'I need it off,'" she said. "I think that created the space for me to really have time to go, 'What am I comfortable with? What do I want to release?' So I’m working on my album this week. It’s coming out next year."

Kelly Clarkson for Variety
Kelly Clarkson for VarietyKelly Clarkson for Variety / Brian Bowen Smith for Variety

"I recorded the record quite some time ago,” she added.

Clarkson noted that this is an "important album" for her. She started working on it when she and her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, separated in June 2020.

"There were many emotions. It was hard," she said. "My producer and I were laughing yesterday because I was like, 'Remember that time we wrote, like, 25 songs in a week?' A lot of those are the ones that are on the album. I literally wrote most of these almost two years ago."

"Then I told my label, 'I can’t talk about this until I’ve gone through it,' and it’s just taken some time to do that," Clarkson continued. "That’s one of the reasons we’ve done a lot of Christmas stuff the past two years — because I was like, 'Well, that’s happy!'"

In 2021, Clarkson released her Christmas album, "When Christmas Comes Around..." and in 2017, she took fans on a wild ride with her eighth studio album, "Meaning of Life."

But due to her many endeavors hosting "The Kelly Clarkson Show," "The Voice," and now "American Song Contest," Clarkson said she didn't really find a lot of time to work on her music.

"There wasn’t time," she said.

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock
Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock attend STX Films World Premiere of "UglyDolls" at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on April 27, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

"I like to be busy in general. But especially when all the feelings are happening, I’m like, 'Oh, let’s be as busy a bee as we can, so I don’t have to feel this for a minute!' Clarkson added. "I do that, which is not healthy. I was like, 'I just need to keep swimming like Dory, and then I’ll get there.'"

"That’s why taking this summer was so important to me, even though a lot of people were kind of bummed because I was supposed to do a couple of things. Obviously, I stepped down on 'The Voice' this season, because I just needed the space," she said.

Clarkson acknowledged that she "hadn’t really been working hardcore on an album" until she "needed" to. Once she separated from Blackstock, she learned that it was time to return to music and put her feelings into a song.

"I needed to write it," she said. "And then I didn’t know if I was going to release it, because you can be very angry in that state of mind. So some of the songs, they definitely cover the gamut of emotions; there’s everything on the album."

"It’s almost like the arc of a relationship, because the beginning is so beautiful and so sweet, and then it evolves. And sometimes it doesn’t evolve how you want," she continued.

Clarkson was married to Blackstock for seven years until they separated. They share their 8-year-old daughter, River Rose, and their 6-year-old son, Remington.