Here to stay

Published: Monday April 19, 2010 MYT 2:54:00 PM

Updated: Sunday April 18, 2010 MYT 3:08:03 PM

By ANN MARIE CHANDY

Kelly Clarkson continues to make great music and build a strong fan base worldwide, all while planting a firm foothold in pop history.

AFTER topping the charts last March (2009) with her fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, Kelly Clarkson embarked on a tour across the United States. Later in the year, she announced a world tour and has been busy fulfilling those obligations, which will bring her right here to our doorstep this Sunday, when she is slated to perform at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

The hardworking singer-songwriter, who got her break after winning the title of American Idol way back when the show was in its infancy in 2002, is eager to make her way over here.

“I’ve been to many different countries in Asia before but I’ve never been to Malaysia,” she said recently during a short phone conversation from Texas, where she resides.

“I’m really looking forward to it, I don’t really know what to expect.”

When Clarkson discovered what time it was that her call got patched through (6am!), she empathised with this reporter: “Oooh ... go back to bed! That’s horrible!” The 27-year-old (she turns 28 on Saturday) sounds friendly, down to earth and can chatter away like she’s known you all her life.

Though she’s risen to the heights of stardom in the last few years, she’s also earned a reputation for preferring to keep a low profile and staying out of the glare of the media.

“I live in the same place I grew up in, out in Texas. I’m not really ever in the whole scene of everything. I’m not really into the New York type of life,” she says once again reinforcing her unassuming nature.

And yet, she’s as big a star as they come. Clarkson holds the distinction of being the highest-selling American Idol alum with 23 million albums sold worldwide. She is right up there on Billboard magazine’s “Best of 2000s Pop Song Artistes”, coming second only to Pink. And she’s won so many awards, there’s even a separate page for it on Wikipedia (“List of awards and nominations received by Kelly Clarkson”). Seriously.

Happy and comfortable: ‘The best thing (about being successful) is that I don’t have any other talent so it’s pretty good that I get to sing!’ says Kelly Clarkson.

But the young artiste insists that success hasn’t really spoiled her. “The only thing that has changed is that I can pay my bills.” She laughs heartily and adds: “I’m not the one mooching off everybody for food, you know, they’re doing that from me now.”

While she enjoys being able to live out her dream of being a singer, Clarkson admits that fame has come with a price, but it’s one that she’s learnt to identify with and adapt to.

“I’m very aware of who I am ... and even if that means I’m the odd one out on the Red Carpet, I’m okay with that. I know who I am as a person and I’m comfortable in my skin. It took a while to get there; the first few years it was really awkward to go to all these events, and have people yelling out my name, trying to get pictures ... it was a little strange at first but I’m comfortable at this point. I’m happy now.”

Plus, it’s not all bad. “The best thing,” Clarkson says about having made it, “is that I don’t have any other talent so it’s pretty good that I get to sing! I think that’s my favourite thing about this. I love performing and touring.”

Being a touring musician does have other perks, too, like travel. Clarkson says she is very much the kind of girl who after being out on the road for six months needs to go right back home again. “And then when I’m home for a week, I’m like, okay, I need to go back out!”

Earlier this year, the young Texan toured across Europe, South Africa and New Zealand. She is currently in Australia.

“I recently did South Africa and I’d never been to South Africa before. It was so cool because so many people came out to see me, and I had no idea I had fans there. It was just such a remarkable experience,” Clarkson relates about her shows in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town last month. “That’s why I’m really looking forward to Asia because I’ve never toured Asia either, so I’m really excited to see what happens.”

As part of her Asian tour, Clarkson will perform in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

But it’s not all about work, because this girl knows how to play too. “I definitely make time for things like shopping and sightseeing. I have all my promoters in the different territories helping me out. We want to see the fans and stuff, but we also like to experience a little bit of the culture in these places. We don’t always know what to do so we have our promoters set us up in different places.”

A promotional tour for an album also means that Clarkson gets to really test out her material with a wide spectrum of spectators worldwide. And one of the best things about this, she says, is that the music changes along the way.

“Songs on the album take on a life of their own when they’re out on the road,” she explains.

“Once you’ve sat with the same songs for so long, you learn a few more cool things you can do with them, and you can change the production a little bit. Especially with as many talented musicians as I have, we tend to do a lot of different production work with the songs and try to make things a little different, we don’t want people to come and close their eyes and feel like it’s exactly like listening to the album at home.”

All I Ever Wanted boasts an eclectic mix of sounds, from pop and country to punk. Plus, Clarkson has an arsenal of hits from her previous albums – Thankful, Breakaway and My December – to draw from for her set-list here.

The production team puts in a special effort to tailor the show for each territory. “With the Internet and YouTube these days, everybody knows my show, so we try to do something a little different, for each country. We’re definitely going to do something for Asia and hopefully people will like it.”

She adds self-deprecatingly: “But I’m from the country, way out in Texas, so hopefully what I do isn’t embarrassing! Hopefully I pick something cool to cover and people there are into it.”

Clarkson adds that her pop music usually sounds a lot more “candy-like” on radio than it does live. “At my shows, everybody tells me I sound a lot more pop rock and less pop. We like to amp things up,” she hints at what to expect.

Something old, something new

Meanwhile, it’s not all about promotions for album No.4. Clarkson says she has already started working on new material for her next effort, which she hopes will be out by the yearend.

Just when and where does inspiration come to her? From life, she says.

“It’s the same for anybody – the circumstances that surround you, your environment, your ups and downs – that kind of stuff.”

The songwriter says she can write music anywhere.

“I’ve written songs on airplanes! I can’t really time when I’m going to write something. A lot of people in the music industry have ‘writing sessions’ but I think that’s kind of weird. I’m very random and I can be anywhere; I may start writing on a napkin. It’s usually never planned.”

Clarkson shares that she’s always had a thing for lyrics and this has played a strong part in her songwriting. “I love poetry, any form of it. I’m in love with words. I’ve always been a big fan of books and poetry and words.”

She admits that she got into a lot of trouble at school for “doodling and writing” instead of doing class work. “I got sent to the principal’s office very often! My brain was always somewhere else. I’ve always been a very fantastical kind of person – off in fantasy land!”

Even though she’s had a hectic schedule since the beginning of the year, Clarkson managed to get some time off recently in between tours, when she caught an American Idol episode on TV. Fans would have seen her comments on Twitter, where she rooted for current contestants Krystal Bowersox and Casey Jones.

Is she a Twitter head? “Not at all,” she says. “I get yelled at daily for not doing enough of that. I don’t feel like I’m a person who is that talkative. I don’t think I have anything that relevant to say. But I promised my fans in January for the New Year that I would start to Twitter. I totally get that people want to know stuff about me. And I totally do it for them.”

Clarkson admits that she enjoys tuning in, every now and then, to the show that gave her a head start in her music career.

“I would love to watch American Idol more often but I always miss it because I’m on tour or overseas or something. I love watching any kind of audition, any dancing or singing thing. I’m totally that nerd who sits at home and watches that kind of stuff,” she admits wholeheartedly.

While some websites suggest that Clarkson may take over as a judge on the show next year after Simon Cowell’s departure from the series, the singer reveals that she doesn’t see that on her horizon.

“I wouldn’t ever want to be a judge,” she reveals. “I’m not that person. I feel bad for people who embarrass themselves when they’re not doing quite as well as they think they are, so I don’t think I would be able to handle that role well.”

Watching the show today, she says, doesn’t really remind her of her own Idol experience.

“The programme has changed so much. With our group (American Idol Season 1), we probably thought no one was watching us. We were getting a paycheque each week for appearing on TV, which was more than we were getting paid at home. It was like camp for us, we totally didn’t realise it was all going to pan out and become such a successful show. It was a very different environment the first time around. Now they know what the stakes are and what you can get from it, so there’s a little more pressure.”

She doesn’t really tire from the fact that people keep calling her the first American Idol.

“Everybody is linked to where they got their start. Like Christina (Aguilera) and Justin (Timberlake) are connected to the Mickey Mouse Club, I am with Idol.” She adds that even Fergie from Black Eyed Peas used to be with a girl group in the States (Wild Orchid) and on a TV show called Kids Incorporated.

“Wherever you get your start it’s something you should be proud of. And I’m pretty cool with it.”

For now, Clarkson has her calendar booked till mid May when her international tour culminates in Macau. And then in July, she’s also signed up to participate in the 2010 Lilith Tour (Lilith Fair) along with an eclectic and notable list of female acts including The Bangles, The Go-Go’s, Martina McBride and Suzanne Vega.

“I’m such a huge fan of the actual tour and the whole essence of the tour. I’m pretty pumped about the fact that so many female artistes from totally different genres will be grouping together like that.”

Much sooner than that, however, Malaysian fans are about to get their first taste of some Clarkson action.

For this weekend’s show, Clarkson promises: “There’s going to be a lot of different genres and music that we go through because I love music so much. The show will be very high energy. I’m very old school – it’s all about the music and lighting for me.”

■ Presented by Hotlink and organised by the Galaxy Group, Kelly Clarkson’s All I Ever Wanted Tour Live In Malaysia 2010 is scheduled for this Sunday at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. Doors open 7.30pm. Browse axcess.com.my. Hotline: 03-7711 5000. Tickets are also available at Mid Valley Galaxy Office and Sungei Wang Galaxy Ticket counter in the Klang Valley and all Ticket Axcess outlets.

Posted Date : 28 April 2010

Posted Time : 2.14am