Kellyoke
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Kelly Clarkson performed Third Eye Blind‘s “Jumper” for her latest Kellyoke number on The Kelly Clarkson Show Thursday (Oct. 20), and it was all for a very special reason.
“Wish you would step back from that ledge my friend/ You could cut ties with all the lies/ That you’ve been living in/ And if you do not want to see me again/ I would understand/ I would understand,” she belted out, playing with the alt-rock classic’s iconic melody while her backing guitarist sang along.
After welcoming the audience to the show, the American Idol winner gave some context for the song’s cryptic lyrics. “The song was tragically inspired by the death of a gay teenager who was bullied. It’s been celebrated for its message of support for the LGBTQ+ community, which is why we chose it for today. Because today is Spirit Day!” she explained. “So my band, me and everyone in our audience is wearing purple in recognition. Spirit Day was created to show support for LGBTQ+ youth and speak out against bullying.”
The song, from the band’s eponymous debut album, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1999.
During the show, Clarkson invited Margaret Cho to highlight some of her own LGBTQ+ role models — such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova — and had a Utah mom share a powerful message about accepting your LGBTQ+ child when he or she comes out.
Other Kellyoke tracks performed by the talk-show host in recent episodes include Jackson Dean’s “Don’t Come Lookin’,” “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night” and Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’” with special guest Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Watch Clarkson power through Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper” below.
Kelly Clarkson took The Kelly Clarkson Show back to the ’70s with her cover of The Doobie Brothers‘ “What a Fool Believes” on Tuesday (Oct. 18).
Wearing her hair in a high pony with a blue and cheetah print jumpsuit, the talk show host belted out, “What a fool believes/ He sees, no wise man has the power/ To reason away/ Oh, what seems to be/ Is always better than nothing/ And nothing at all/ What a fool believes.”
Released as the lead single from The Doobie Brothers’ 1979 album Minute by Minute, the soft rock classic earned the band their second and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 following 1974’s “Black Water.”
During the show, Clarkson welcomed Jessica Chastain as her guest and chatted with the Oscar winner about her role as country legend Tammy Wynette in the upcoming biopic George and Tammy.
The actress even jokingly admitted during the interview that she was “nervous” to discuss the project with the American Idol winner considering the latter’s love for music. “It’s probably the most nervous thing that I… Even talking about it gives me, like, hives,” Chastain said of singing in the film. “But I drank a lot of bourbon and I got through it.
Other recent “Kellyoke” picks by Clarkson have included duets with Sam Smith (“Breakaway“) and Dwayne Johnson (Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’“) as well as solo takes on Whitney Houston (“Queen of the Night“), Olivia Rodrigo (“Traitor“), Alec Benjamin (“Let Me Down Slowly” featuring Alessia Cara) and more.
Watch Clarkson channel The Doobie Brothers for “What a Fool Believes” below.
Kelly Clarkson may be a queen of daytime talk shows, but now she’s also queen of the night. For the latest installment of The Kelly Clarkson Show‘s Kellyoke series, the three-time Grammy winner showed off her voice by covering a song by the “Voice” herself, Whitney Houston‘s “Queen of the Night.”
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Clarkson and her band, Y’all, started by putting their own twist on Houston’s rocking dance hit, which was originally released on the soundtrack for her 1992 film The Bodyguard. While the late legend’s original mix starts out with an immediately uptempo beat, Clarkson sang the first lines slowly over suspended chords, backup singers dramatically echoing her with each lyric.
Then, the lights started flashing, the drums began pounding, and the “Stronger” singer went full Whitney mode — taking lines up the octave, sprinkling in sky-high riffs and belting long notes with show-stopping force.
“I’ve got more than enough to make you drop to your knees/ Cause I’m the queen of the night, oh yeah,” she sang, leading seamlessly into an epic electric guitar solo.
With a Billboard Pop Airplay chart peak of No. 17, “Queen of the Night” is one of several hits recorded by Houston as part of The Bodyguard‘s soundtrack. Also on the album are 14-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “I Will Always Love You” and No. 4s “I Have Nothing” and “I’m Every Woman.” The Grammy-winning soundtrack itself topped the Billboard 200 for a whopping 20 weeks in 1992, the year the film debuted, and remained on the chart for 176 weeks total.
Watch Kelly Clarkson perform Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night” on The Kelly Clarkson Show above.