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If you win ‘Idol,’ then you don’t have time to watch it |
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Written by Howard Cohen, KRT
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Tuesday, 04 July 2006 |
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 MIAMI — Kelly Clarkson talks fast, “fasterthanaspeedingbullet’’ fast. This turns out to be a good thing. Today’s Queen of Pop is giving you 15 minutes of her time, hardly long enough to get beyond the butter-’em-up pleasantries and into the hard questions like: “Why did you stop ‘American Idol’ from using your songs this season?”
But Clarkson, personable, polite and poised on her cellphone, multitasks well, exhibiting all the youthful, agreeable traits that made her the first and still biggest American Idol.
First and foremost, inquiring minds, she did not make her songs unavailable to “Idol,’’ despite tabloid reports. Country cutie Kellie Pickler even impressed the judges with her take on Clarkson’s inescapable pop smash “Since U Been Gone’’ in January and easily made it to the “AI:5’’ finals as a result.
Clarkson isn’t angry; she sounds incredulous. “People are saying I didn’t want my songs used, but people are always singing my songs. I didn’t say anything.’’
She says she’s been too busy to catch subsequent seasons of “Idol’’ — and isn’t that the point of being an “Idol?’’
“I’m either on tour or overseas, and even when I wasn’t working I was on vacation. And while the last “Idol’’ was on, I was singing on the Academy of Country Music Awards’ with Rascal Flatts. Something is always happening, so I don’t get to see it.’’
But she hears about it. An earful. Clarkson caught flak for forgetting to mention “Idol’’ when she became the first TV star to win two Grammy Awards (both from “Breakaway,’’ now spending its 82nd week on the chart and still in the Top 50.)
"`I didn’t thank either one of my dads ...,’’ she says, almost chuckling at the transgression. Forgetting ``Idol’’ was the thing people fixated on, but "family would trump over that.’’
The idea of an `"Idol," a manufactured pop star, earning the industry’s highest honor so rapidly had to come as a surprise. Even a trained musician-songwriter turned cultural icon like Elton John had to wait 24 years after his first hit single to win a Pop Vocal Grammy. Twenty-four years — Clarkson’s entire life.
"I didn’t expect to win. I didn’t know what to say. I’d talk, and I’d cry. I’m horrible. I sound like an idiot,’’ she laughs, thinking back to her emotional display on the Grammy stage.
"But I love where I came from. 'Idol' is a great idea. For an unknown to come into the business is really hard. I wasn’t the ideal picture-perfect pop star look-alike. It’s a cool way for real talent, for people who want it and have the drive, to go the extra mile,’’ she says.
Surprisingly, becoming an insta-star wasn’t as difficult an adjustment to make as it would seem.
"I’m 24, I should be working," Clarkson acknowledges. "But I’m learning how to balance how to have fun while working. I used to do the shows and go to my room. I’m starting to learn I can go out. I can plan to have some time between these shows. I know how many weeks I can tour before I get sick of it and need to go home and rest.’’
It doesn’t appear that Clarkson has lost touch with the girl born in Fort Worth in 1982 and raised in Burleson, Texas, after her parents divorced. If she has, she hides it well, and if so, maybe she is ready for that acting role on Broadway, one of her career goals. She’s convincing.
"I grew up as a cocktail waitress in bars and clubs," Clarkson says. "I go once in a while, but I’m more of a bar person playing pool. You’ll find me in a club maybe twice a year. It’s not my scene."
Striking a balance is a lesson born of necessity. Last year Clarkson suffered walking pneumonia while on a tour promoting "Breakaway’’ and its string of hit singles — the title track, "Since U Been Gone," "Behind These Hazel Eyes," "Because of You" and the current "Walk Away." It’s not far-fetched to suggest her nonstop schedule led to the breakdown.
"I had bronchitis and didn’t know it. If I’m not bleeding out of the head I don’t go to the hospital. That’s how I grew up. I thought it was a cold but it turned into walking pneumonia.
"It became too much,’’ she says. "I’m literally the same girl that started singing four years ago. I stayed that girl."
Except, of course, that girl is also "Kelly Clarkson," big star, who had as many Top 40 singles herself as Mariah Carey and Madonna combined in 2004-05. Clarkson’s two personas, without getting too "Sybil" here, have to learn to coexist.
For this Addicted Tour, she’s taking care of herself — no sodas; make it Vitamin Water — with a healthy eating plan based on moderation, not deprivation.
"Now I focus on one thing at a time,’’ she says. "If it’s a tour, I focus on that. If it’s the record, I focus on that. If I start looking at the bigger picture it gets too big, too massive, gets intimidating."
So the focus, this moment, is on going back on the road with four or five new songs with a Prince/Sly Stone-style vibe planned for her third album, which she will release in 2007.
"I’m just really excited about introducing this new material, we’re testing it out.
Thing is, I tour a lot _ if everyone hasn’t noticed,’’ she says, laughing at the obvious observation — "and my whole record has to be a `tour record.’
But what has Clarkson even more excited is that she is seeing HER idol, country singer-actress Reba McEntire, in concert in Las Vegas this summer. 'Idol' followers will recall how in 2002, McEntire made a surprise appearance on the show Simon Cowell built to sing a duet with the startled contestant. This was during ``Idol’s’’ infancy, before pop stars like Prince, Mary J. Blige and Rascal Flatts clamored to get on the top-rated show.
"That moment is tied with winning the Grammy, how cool it was for me. I adore her," Clarkson gushes. "I never get nervous on stage but with her it was, "Oh my God," the 10-year-old in me bawling.
"My mom didn’t have a lot when I was growing up. I just got a CD player in eighth grade and mom bought me five Reba CDs. I had them all on tapes but it was coolest to have them on CD. I’m going to see her for the first time ever in concert. We were always too poor to go."
At the rate she’s cranking out hits, that will no longer be a problem.
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