Yesterday afternoon, Kelly Clarkson premiered “Mr. Know It All,” the gorgeous lead single from her upcoming fifth studio album Stronger.
She also took the time to answer fan questions on her trusty iPad (watch in full!), revealing loads of new info about her new single, some dish on the new album, and future tour plans.
But before we get into all that, can we just do this for a moment: Okay. I’ve always loved and adored the Clarkson with all my heart, but SERIOUSLY. Is she not the cutest little goober in this video?! It amazes me how grounded she’s remains to this day! “I hope this isn’t boring.” “Wait, I wasn’t supposed to read that.” “This is awkward.” No pretense. No diva ‘tude. Just realness. She also says the word “sassy.” A lot. I MEAN…OBSESSED!
But back to the main event, Kelly revealed a wealth of details, which I’ll now boil down to some snazzy bullet points:
• “Mr. Know It All” was selected as the first single because it’s “very different” from her usual lead singles and “super sassy and sets up the album nicely.”
• The album is named Stronger because the album’s about empowerment and, once again, about “being sassy.”
• The name Stronger comes from upcoming album track “What Doesn’t Kill You,” which is one of the (very amazing) songs that has already leaked.
• The Stronger tour will start in the new year, possibly around January. Rehearsals have already begun.
• She describes the album as “vocally different” and captures her live voice better than previous records.
• Her favorite song she’s ever recorded will be featured on Stronger called “You Love Me.” As she described the track: “It sounds like it’s a happy song, but…you know me. I put that dark twist on it.” She wrote the song in 15 minutes.
• She’d love to do a duet with Adele and Miranda Lambert. (Dear God, please let Kelladele happen.)
• The album tracklisting is not finalized yet.
• She just shot the video for “Mr. Know It All” in Nashville with Justin Francis. “The video is very different from anything I’ve done,” she explained.
• “Walk Away” is her favorite song to perform live. “I feel like I’m Annie Lennox when I’m singing that.”
• She personally wrote half of Stronger. She doesn’t like the idea of writing a full album by herself, so half of the album was written by band members and new collaborators.
• She’s done a few songs with Chris Daughtry, but they’ve never made it to an album (yet). “We’re just waiting for that perfect song.” They recorded a song for Stronger, but it didn’t match the tone of the rest of the album.
• She counts Prince, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow as influences on Stronger, as well as some country influence.
• One of the duets she recorded made the album. She wouldn’t say who, but it’s a female affiliated with American Idol.
• Already Famous is just a fun side project for Kelly and her back-up singers Jill and Kate, but they don’t know what they’re doing with the songs they’ve recorded yet.
And that was that.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kelly Clarkson: Not only one of the world’s most talented artists, but one of the few true role models in the music industry today.
I LOVE HER SO MUCH I CANNOT EVEN FEEL MY FACE RIGHT NOW.