Kelly Clarkson Wishes For a ‘Better Man’ in Taylor Swift Cover: Watch

It’s Kellyoke, Taylor’s Version. On the latest episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Kelly Clarkson and her band Y’all performed “Better Man,” one of the most devastating ballads penned by Taylor Swift back in her country music days.

“I know the bravest thing I ever did was run,” the three-time Grammy winner effortlessly belted, she and her entire band sporting football jerseys for the talk show’s special NFL-themed episode Monday (Jan. 23). “Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can feel you again/ But I just miss you, and I just wish you were a better man.”

Originally written by Swift leading up to her 2012 album Red, “Better Man” was scrapped from the track list and remained unheard by the public until the country-turned-pop star sent it to Little Big Town in 2016. The Alabama quartet released the track as the lead single off their 2017 album The Breaker.

Swift similarly lent an unreleased Red era song, “Babe,” to Sugarland, and appeared in the country duo’s music video for the track. Later, the “Anti-Hero” hitmaker would record both “Better Man” and “Babe” herself for her 2021 re-release, Red (Taylor’s Version), which was part of an ongoing project Swift’s taken on in order to reclaim ownership of her masters.

Funnily enough, it was Kelly Clarkson who was one of the first to publicly suggest that Swift rerecord her music at the height of Swift’s feud with former label owner Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun. In 2019, she tweeted, “@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions. I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.”

Watch Kelly Clarkson perform Taylor Swift’s “Better Man” below.