When people say Kelly Clarkson takes a song and makes it her own on the “Kellyoke” segment of her talk show, they probably don’t mean it like this.
Clarkson covered the 2022 song “abcdefu” by Gayle on the March 30 episode of her show and altered some of the lyrics, which many people think are aimed at Clarkson’s ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock.
“Forget you and your dad / And the fact you got half and my broken heart / Turned that (expletive) into art,” she sang in a somewhat sanitized and modified version of the track that still remained quite salty, while Clarkson deftly showed off just how feisty she can be.
The original lyrics are: "F--- you and your mom / And your sister and your job / And your broke-a-- car and that s--- you call art."
After nearly seven years of marriage, Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock in 2020.
As part of the divorce, which was finalized last year, Clarkson had to pay her ex a one-time payment of $1,326,161, according to court documents obtained by TODAY. She also has to pay monthly payments of $115,000 in spousal support until Jan. 31, 2024, and $45,601 monthly in child support for their two children: River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 6.
The singer has also been open about the fact that the end of her relationship with Blackstock inspired her upcoming album, “Chemistry."
While it’s not certain that she referred to her ex-husband with the cover, Clarkson’s fans loved how she mixed up the lyrics and sensed they knew what she was up to.
“Kelly be like connecting to this song on a very personal level... and even changing the lyrics!” one person wrote on YouTube.
“Living for the lyric changes! Kelly Clarkson deserves everything!” someone else raved.
“Tell us how you feel…without telling us how you feel ….get them girl,” someone else commented.
Clarkson recently announced that she will headline a 10-night Las Vegas residency tied to her new album at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood this summer.
"Chemistry" is her first non-holiday studio album since 2017. She began working on the record in the wake of her divorce.
“When my ex and I first separated, there were many emotions,” she told Variety in September 2022.
“It was hard. 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.”
“Some of the songs, they definitely cover the gamut of emotions; there’s everything on the album,” she added. “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.”