It’s not unusual to get chills from Kelly Clarkson‘s powerful and emotive vocals, but the star takes things to the next level in the season 7 premiere of The Kelly Clarkson Show, which kicked off Monday (Sept. 29).
In fact, go ahead and get some tissues. In her first episode back, Clarkson featured as her guests not only celebs Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, but also Kerville Independent School District Superintendent Brent Ringo and 12 of its bus drivers who helped rescue hundreds of children stranded at camp during the deadly July 4 floods in Texas.
“We just wanted to reaffirm our initial mission statement, which was always about community connection, humor, heart,” showrunner Alex Duda tells Billboard of the season premiere and emotional tales the heroic bus drivers shared of getting the kids to safety. “From the beginning, [Clarkson’s] been a connector. … Today, we wanted to just reaffirm that throughout the years, Kelly’s always said one of the things she loves best about the show — she loves the celebrities, and she obviously loves the music — but she also just loves the non-celebrities who come up, and we can shine a light on them, people who are just trying to make their community a little bit better. They don’t always get the shine.”
While it was a dark period for the Lone Star State in the aftermath of the deadly floods — which killed at least 135 people, more than 35 of those being children, according to CNN — the show’s music director says the talk show is also looking to find the bright spots in life despite the horrors. “Every season has a theme … and this one, the theme is looking for the light,” Jason Halbert tells Billboard, and that’s where the team went with the first Kellyoke of the season — “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, a song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. “It tied in good with the whole story with the Kerville bus drivers. The show’s really good about highlighting really great, positive stories that are happening in the midst of all the chaos in the world today.”
Halbert says that with Clarkson’s Las Vegas residency — which was paused in August due to her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock’s death after a battle with cancer — the star and her band Y’all didn’t have all that much time to put the “Blinding Lights” Kellyoke together. For some artists, it might’ve been an issue, but not for Clarkson and her team. “I’ve been with Kelly 20 years, and these guys have been with her 10 years plus, and so when I’m arranging these songs, I can already hear her in my head,” he shares. “So it doesn’t feel like we’re even consciously trying to ‘Kellyize’ it or whatever you would say anymore. It’s just … what comes out when Kelly sings.”
And of course, the widely popular Kellyoke segment that kicks off each episode is a bright spot. This season, Halbert teases, there’s much to look forward to when it comes to the music. “We have some great duets coming up this season,” Halbert teases. “Last season we introduced a Cameo-oke and started giving to highlight some other artists.”
One pairing he’s particularly excited about? Toni Braxton and Clarkson on the former’s Hot 100 No. 3 hit “Breathe Again.” Gushes Halbert, “I can’t wait to hear those two voices together!”
But there’s more: The music director teases that a Kellyoke of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” is in the works. “We actually had that slated for last season, and we just never got to it. And over the summer, I was listening back through some of the stuff we had, and like I say, we like to make things our own, and I felt like that one, we were just too on the nose with. It’s hard when somebody grows up listening to somebody,” he explains of the hit, which reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2000. “So I’m glad we didn’t do it, because when we came back, we spent a little bit of time reimagining it and making it more Kelly, and just a little more chills — sort of like what we did with Prince’s ‘Kiss.’ It’s like a different feel to it.”
Other Kellyokes on the docket? Halbert says viewers can expect “I Hope I Never Fall in Love” by Maren Morris and Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine.”
“I think you’re gonna feel a little bit of difference in the music because we’re just coming off the Vegas residency where we did studio sessions, and it was all live musicians doing all of her hits again,” Halbert tells Billboard. “And I think that sort of reinvigorated some things musically for us that we’re trying to incorporate into what we’re doing in the show this season.”
