Kelly Clarkson Sings G5 in 'Where Have I Been?'
Added 2025-05-11 16:31:06 +0000 UTCWoah, that was an AMAZING high note. It's also a beautiful throw-back song too. I watched both the music video and a live performance of here. Let me know what you think.
Comments
You need a blog for this!
Tim Welch Vocal Studio
2025-05-12 09:59:26 +0000 UTCHowdy Tim, A nice pick to review. And I agree, a very impressive performance on Kelly's part. I've always considered her a generational singer, and her skill and ability to perform just about anything is really unparalleled in the current music scene. Idol lucking into her on its first season was one of those happy things that occasionally just happen, and cannot be planned for. The big problem that Kelly always has had though is that she is not a songwriter. She has always been dependent on getting material from others and that of course means that though she will always be able to perform at the very top end, the material if often not perfectly fit to her, or also of a consistent tone in sound beyond it being her voice. She is very much a vessel that gets filled by other artists work in many ways. I don't mean that as a slam in the least, as for most of music history things have worked exactly like that. True talent performing a catalog of work built by professional songsmiths. But in a world of Lady Gagas and Billie Eilishs and Chappells who all write their own material and produce a integrated 'sound' to their work that is instantly recognizable not only via the sound, but also the lyrics and song design the landscape has changed. Kelly's 'voice' is always shifting based on who is behind the works creation, and it causes her to be rightfully seen as quality and super talented, but not of the same depth as the singer/songwriters by the general listening public. Kelly's career has been pretty bumpy. She had a ton of early popular success, and was guided by Clive Davis who called the shots on her material. But she didn't enjoy the sort of control and molding that he did and they eventually split, and it was messy. She started to get co-writing credits on the material that came after, and she seemed to be seeking a personal voice. But the hits she managed in this period were still written mostly by others (Katy Perry for example wrote Long Shot) and Kelly's public visibility faded. She did a few turns on the Voice as a judge, and eventually started her talk show where as you point out she sings regularly covering tons of music in her impressive way. She asked Chappell for access to her catalog for those spots and Chappell agreed, and she's covered a half dozen of Chappells pieces over the last year for example. But there has been a sense of not being fully happy with Kelly over the past few years. Her marriage blew up in an ugly way, and she's sort of been adrift in the industry, She even became unsigned with no label for a period, until she created her own label High Road Records, and has started to produce material for it like this very song. She seems more personally involved with this material, and I get the feeling that she is working on the pieces in tighter collaboration with her writing team, and thus the material is feeling more personal and connected. And in my eyes possesses a quality that I call "Age coded" which is a concept that I hold is very important for any artist with longevity. What a performer can sing and succeed with in their 20's is very different than what they can do in their 40's and see success. Katy Perry is a great example. She had massive success with her material when she was in her 20's. "Young girl having fun and such" sound. (I kissed a Girl, California Girls, Last Friday Night, Waking up in Vegas) all rightfully hits. But at 40, producing music with that viewpoint doesn't work so well, and Katy has had a lot of issues finding a more mature voice. On the other hand we have Gaga who as she has aged, has continued to evolve her material to match her age and life state, and even can take her old work which was massively coded as Dance works (Poker Face we are looking at you) and alter them subtly to make them smoothy fit with her modern material as we see in the Mayhem tour. As she grows older, her music has also, and speaks to older wants and desires, and thus continues to connect with her old audience that has grown with her, and pull new people who were not in the age range for her in the past. But I digress :) Kelly with this piece is perfectly Age Coded. It's viewpoint and lyrics are right in the pocket for a woman of her age and life experiences. The sound of the piece is rather timeless, pulling elements from the 50's and 60's and modern pop eras. Note that the clip is credited to Kelly Clarkson and the High Roads. She is fronting a BAND not just being the star in the spotlight alone. She's part of something, and it's a work done together. She even points this out in the live clip highlighting her guitarist. This is solid image creation work. It speaks to her audiences life experience and age. It has a connection to the 50's and 60's where you saw bands with a named front person and skilled musical band behind them. It's a viewpoint. She of course always has the chops to deliver. But now she seems to be delivering what she wants to say, rather than being a vessel for great sounding material others created alone. And that shift to me, fits with the feeling of searching for something as an Artist that one has felt around her of late. One thing that has clearly come from her talk show is that she has spent a lot to time talking to artist from all ages of the profession in depth. Seeing how others have found their paths and ways. To me very much schooling herself in things that she didn't know she needed to learn before. I don't know if she'll find the massive commercial success she had in the past. But I do feel that she'll become a consistent workhorse in service e to herself now. And building a catalog of material that will speak to an audience that is more mature, and looking for more in their Art. And that is a good thing. I'm betting that on the album that is sure to come in the months ahead there will be one happy sunny piece that has the feel of spring coming after a long winter, that will excel. And that one may well break out. I truly liked this piece. Mostly for its callbacks to earlier eras and fitting her so well on the perspective level. The quality was never in question to me. But seeing the perspective executed so well, that was what makes it great to me.
Jevon Kasitch
2025-05-11 18:45:20 +0000 UTCThat was impressive. And, I have to admit I was surprised. I actually watched Kelly Clarkson when she won the first American Idol and I remember being absolutely blown away by her at that time. But, I have lost touch with her as an artist in the years since. Main reason was that I wasn't listening to much music, and what I was hearing by most pop singers didn't impress me all that much. Obviously, I wasn't looking hard enough. And, thanks, Tim, for differentiating between harsh vocals and the creaky door sound.
Gaye McCullough
2025-05-11 17:17:19 +0000 UTC
