Kelly Clarkson Says She Was Lied To While Making One Of Her Biggest Hits

July 5, 2023
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Kelly Clarkson is intent on clearing her name.

The “Piece By Piece” singer recently appeared on Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens” show, where she answered a fan’s question about some old drama linked to Clive Davis’ memoir “The Soundtrack of My Life,” which was published in 2013.

Davis, a legendary music producer, claimed that Clarkson broke into “hysterical sobbing” when he demanded that her song “Since U Been Gone” be included on her 2004 record, “Breakaway.”

But Clarkson says that’s not at all what went down.

“Let’s give some backstory, Davis,” Clarkson said, laughing, on Cohen’s show last week. “I was lied to, and they told me, ‘Hey, there’s these producers that want to work with you.’”

She said “Since U Been Gone” just had “dummy lyrics” at that stage of the songwriting process, and that she “was told to write to the song.”

Clive Davis and Kelly Clarkson on Nov. 14, 2004, in Beverly Hills, California.
Clive Davis and Kelly Clarkson on Nov. 14, 2004, in Beverly Hills, California.

Jean-Paul Aussenard via Getty Images

“[They] flew me to Sweden, I get there and these two people, [producers Max Martin and Łukasz ‘Dr. Luke’ Gottwald], were not told that I was writing to it, and just already had it written,” Clarkson said. “And I look like a fool, ’cause I walked in and the label had told me something completely different.”

“And I just think that’s a red flag, too. Why lie to me like that?” she said, adding that she didn’t “like the lying.”

“So that’s why I have a bad vibe with that song, because of the origin story,” she explained.

Despite the drama tied to the song, Clarkson said it’s still “fun as hell to sing.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m such a great compartmentalizer,” Clarkson said when asked if she can separate the song from its baggage with Davis. “I can put that aside, and I sing the hell out of it on the tour.”

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrOWwKEz0?rel=0&enablejsapi=1]

When Clarkson addressed Davis’ account of the events at the time, she said that his story was “not true at all.”

“His stories and songs are mixed up,” she said in a 2013 statement shared on the social media platform WhoSay. “I did want more guitars added to the original demo and Clive did not. [Martin and Gottwald] and I still fought for the bigger sound and we prevailed and I couldn’t be more proud of the life of that song. I resent him dampening that song in any way.”

She elaborated in her post about her tense working relationship with Davis, and opened up about crying in his office once.

“I cried after I played him a song I had written about my life called ‘Because Of You,’” Clarkson wrote. “I cried because he hated it and told me verbatim that I was a ‘sh*tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me.’”

“He continued on about how the song didn’t rhyme and how I should just shut up and sing,” she wrote, adding that it “was devastating coming from a man who I, as a young girl, considered a musical hero and was so honored to work with. But I continued to fight for the song and the label relented. And it became a worldwide hit. He didn’t include that in the book.”

In a response, Davis said at the time that he was “truly very sorry that [Clarkson] has decided to take issue with what I know to be an accurate depiction of our time together. Before the book was published, I had every fact checked with five independent individuals who were present on a daily basis throughout it all … I stand by the chapter as written in my book.”

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