Kelly Clarkson Debuts Deeply Personal ‘Chemistry’ Album In Its Entirety in Concert at L.A.’s Belasco
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Kelly Clarkson celebrated her 41st birthday Monday night with a ceremonial purge, performing for fans all 14 songs from “Chemistry,” a project he’s been working on for three years that has been described — quite accurately, as it turns out — as putting her feelings about her divorce on the record, in every way. “I was really nervous about releasing the record,” Clarkson said at an early point in the emotionally powerful but good-humored two-hour concert at downtown L.A.’s Belasco, which was being filmed for future use.
The singer said she felt emboldened when one of her crew members of three years told her, “I was listening to your record and, boy, did you nail that — loss and grief.
And even the part where you remember the good; that’s what keeps you going back.” Those “remember the good” songs, in which Clarkson revisits the early stages of her relationship with former husband Brandon Blackstock, will no doubt help the album’s commercial appeal, with some sex appeal amid the sadness and even the possibility for a dance-floor hit or two, in the form of the upbeat “Favorite Kind of High” and “Magic.” But the singer/TV host was eager to point out, rather than downplay, the parts of the album that are most harrowing for her.
Introducing the ballad “Lighthouse” for the packed and adoring crowd, Clarkson said, “This is possibly the saddest song I’ve ever written.
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