Kelly Clarkson on Motherhood and Creating Empowering Pop Songs

"I need to be knocked up for every record."  
Piece By Piece album promo photo
RCA Records

Since the release of her last album, Stronger, in 2011, a lot has shifted for Kelly Clarkson. The Nashville-based singer is now married and has two step kids and an eight-month-old daughter named River. She unveiled a collection of Christmas songs in 2013, but her new album, Piece by Piece, out this week on RCA, is Clarkson's first new music in almost four years. It's an amiable collection of anthemic pop songs, propelled by Clarkson's powerhouse voice, and it's a serious reminder that we've missed her on the radiowaves. We chatted with the singer about making her new album (while pregnant), cutting a song with John Legend, and why she counts her family as her greatest achievement yet. 

Your life has really changed since the last time you released an album. 

Yes, I'm married now with three kids! 

Did you feel like you were coming from a different place when making this album?

Honestly I still gravitate toward the same messages. Although I'm super happy —I've never been this happy in my life—and everything is going great, when I get sent a song like "Run Run Run," I'm like, 'God, I know that feeling. I'm not experiencing it right now, but I can definitely convey the message because I've felt it in my past.' I always going to gravitate toward empowerment and anthem and just beautiful melodies, you know?

When you work with songwriters and they send you various ideas, is it really important for you to have experienced the emotion that's in the song?

"There's nothing worse than watching vanilla talent."

 I wouldn't sing a song if I hadn't. I've turned down songs because of that. I came out with this song called "Don't Rush" and my whole joke about it was that I never would have picked that song before falling in love with [my husband] Brandon. I would have been like, 'This is a stupid song. Nobody feels like this.' I wouldn't have believed it. You have to feel something. We all know those singers who sing something and you're like, 'Okay, you obviously have never had your heart broken or you wouldn't be singing it like that.' There's nothing worse than watching vanilla talent. So I have to have experienced the song if I'm going to be the vessel for it. 

John Legend is on the album and it seems so fortuitous that you got him before he won an Oscar.

Oh my God! I couldn't have planned that better. What's funny is we have had this song recorded for a while. I've been saying that—I couldn't have planned his whole Oscar-winning moment better. He deserves it though. He's so great. We've known each other since we worked together on the show Duets and then he came and sang on tour with me at the Hollywood Bowl. We just blend really well together and we always thought we should do a song if it ever came along. I literally emailed him "Run Run Run" when I started recording maybe a year ago and he emailed back within 10 minutes saying it was going to be great. He's just the sweetest guy and loves great music. And I'm so happy for him. What a great year he's had. 

It helps that he has a positive message, too. 

Yeah. He's just likable by everyone. Every girl wants to date him and every guy wants to be his friend. He's that guy. 

Have you performed "Run Run Run" together live yet?

No, and we actually didn't even get to do it together in the studio. He was on tour and I was pregnant. I had to do most of my vocals either here in a Nashville studio or in my home in our attic. I have a vocal booth I set up. I was in my last trimester so I wasn't supposed to travel. 

So you recorded this album while you were pregnant?

I was really pregnant. There was a trash can beside the vocal mics and everything. 

Did that affect the recording at all?

"There was a trash can beside the vocal mics and everything."

In a great way, yeah. It's really hard to describe and it sounds really cheesy, but when you're pregnant you feel everything. In a bad way as well. It's more enhanced. When you feel bad, it's real bad. But if you're feeling creative it's even more creative. I remember doing some of these vocal takes in the studio and even though I wasn't feeling 100 percent physically, emotionally I've never sung like that. All these songs—I feel like the vocals were just more vulnerable and more passionate and more intense. 

Now that you know that you'll have to be pregnant for every album you make. 

I know! That's what I told my husband: 'I need to be knocked up for every record.' He just ran. But I do want to have another one though. I will plan that. 


Are your feelings about motherhood present on the record?

There was one song I did actually write about River and her influence on me and it was a cute little story. But honestly—and this is going to sound funny—she is the best subject in the world but I did not do a good job writing it. So it didn't make the cut. I have it for her when she's older. She just makes me more peaceful and more relaxed and I just enjoy everything more because of her. 

I read an interview where you said you want your biggest success in life to be as a mother and a wife. That seems like an interesting thing for a really successful singer to say. 

I think, especially in this society today, it's really hard to have a successful marriage. Or I don't think it happens very often. Especially for people in the public eye. It's hard to have a successful marriage and be successful as a parent while wanting to have a career. That's my big goal. I just want to be the best mom ever and I just want to be successful at being a wife. Always be loving and supporting. It's all very selfless. I'm 32. It's time for that. I've had my whole gypsy mentality for years now. I think when you have a baby you want to do everything you can in your power to make everything easy for them and magical. 

Will that affect how much you'll tour on this album?

No. I pop out magical babies. She's already been to Singapore, London, Hong Kong. She's great on a plane. She's the best traveling baby ever. She's the happiest little thing. She does everything with me. This week she's going to [Late Night With Jimmy] Fallon and GMA and everything with me. 

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