Kelly Clarkson's May talk show rounds

On May 2, after a very busy day for television sports, Saturday Night Live aired an encore episode of their March 14 show, hosted by Tracy Morgan and with musical guest Kelly Clarkson. The original "American Idol" performed "My Life Would Suck Without You" and "I Do Not Hook Up", both from her "All I Ever Wanted" album.

Look out for more of Clarkson on the talk show circuit in May, when she'll appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday May 12, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday May 14.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Carrie Underwood for Grand Ole Opry week

"American Idol" Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood will return to the "Idol" stage Wednesday as a performer on Grand Ole Opry week. Carrie's official site reports that fellow Opry member Randy Travis will join her in singing her current single, "I Told You So," her version of his 1988 hit. Brad Paisley also will debut his new single, "Then," according to Opry.com.

Carrie says: "I am so excited that two of my musical passions, American Idol and the Grand Ole Opry, are joining together to create a really special week of music,” says Underwood. “I am always thrilled to return to the Idol stage, and am so proud to this time be bringing with me one of my heroes, Randy Travis. I knew the Opry first, but Idol gave me my start and helped lead me to the Opry stage. It’s a great feeling to be able to help bring these two worlds together.”

The country "Idol" star should feel right at home with the theme this week. Carrie's upcoming performance comes on the heels of Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson's return to "Idol" during Michael Jackson week to sing her current single, "My Life Would Suck Without You."

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Clarkson and Kanye to take 'Idol' stage

The "American Idol" season is about to kick off with a bang -- at least as far as guest performers go.  No sooner had the show unveiled its freshly baked unprecedented Top 13 than it announced a powerful one-two punch of guest performers, revealing that both musical sensation Kanye West and "Idol's" prodigal daughter Kelly Clarkson will take the Idoldome stage to perform on the March 11 results show.

According to the release from Fox, West will perform his platinum-selling single "Heartless" while Clarkson will perform her recent smash hit "My Life Would Suck Without You." 

For Clarkson, "Idol's" first champion, the date marks a return to the "Idol" stage for a regular season show after a multi-year absence, often marked by friction with "Idol's" record division over the direction and handling of her previous album.  The prodigal daughter has since reconciled with the juggernaut, their reborn collaboration bringing about her biggest hit single in years.

The Fox news release on Clarkson's return follows.

KELLY CLARKSON RETURNS TO THE “AMERICAN IDOL” STAGE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, ON FOX

Season One AMERICAN IDOL winner and superstar recording artist Kelly Clarkson returns to the IDOL stage to perform her new hit single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” on the AMERICAN IDOL results show Wednesday, March 11 (9:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.

“My Life Would Suck Without You” was released on January 28 and dominated the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks in a row. In February, the song catapulted from No. 97 to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart in only one week, which marks the largest leap in the chart’s 50-year history. Clarkson previously held the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 with her single, “A Moment Like This.” Since winning the first season of AMERICAN IDOL in 2002, Clarkson has sold 20 million albums worldwide. She is the recipient of two Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, two MTV Awards and 11 Billboard Awards. Her new album, “All I Ever Wanted,” hits stores on March 10.

On Tuesday, March 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed), the Top 13 will take the stage for the first time and battle it out live for the IDOL crown. Tune in the following night Wednesday, March 11 (9:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) to the live results show to see Clarkson perform her hit single and to find out who receives enough votes to stay in the competition and who is sent home.

-- Richard Rushfied

Photo: Fox

Kelly Clarkson's 'All I Ever Wanted' leaks early. Thanks, Apple?

Over at the LA Times Pop and Hiss blog, Todd Martens has an item on the latest leak of the Prodigal Daughter, Kelly Clarkson's new material.  He writes:

So much for that carefully orchestrated release plan.

Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted" has hit the Web in advance of its March 10 release date, and the culprit? Apple's iTunes store, according to this report in Rolling Stone.

The website for the magazine notes that it was the Norway division of Apple's iTunes music service. An Apple spokesperson has yet to respond, but Rolling Stone provided this screen grab of the Norwegian iTunes store as proof, and reported that the file was encoded via iTunes.

Once serviced to retailers, keeping an album under wraps is a near impossibility. While "All I Ever Wanted" is not yet available to preview via any U.S. retailers or officially sanctioned sites, Rolling Stone notes that the Norwegian site was hosting 30-second audio clips when fans realized the album could be purchased.

Read it all at Pop and Hiss.

 

Photo credit: Getty Images

Has RCA dropped Clay Aiken?

"American Idol" Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken has been dropped by his label, RCA. Billboard's Jaded Insider reports that a source told Billboard Aiken was dropped ... a couple months ago:

Aiken now joins a slew of second-place finishers — Katharine McPhee, Diana DeGarmo, Justin Guarini, Blake Lewis and Bo Bice, among them — let go from their major label deals post-Idol. (McPhee, however, recently signed with Universal's Verve label.) Last season's David Archuleta, who's on Sony's Jive Records, remains in good standing, with his debut already certified gold, but then again, Aiken's went double platinum. Of course, 2003 was a different time and not even Idol is recession-proof.

While there's been no official statement from RCA or new dad Clay Aiken on this, the redhead's name is not so curiously missing from the RCA website's roster of artists. Their current featured release is Kelly Clarkson's fourth album, "All I Ever Wanted."

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press

Kelly Clarkson's 'My Life' makes history

Over at the Pop and Hiss blog, Todd Martens has the story on American Idol's Prodigal Daughter, Kelly Clarkson's, stunning launch of her new single.  He writes: 

Never underestimate the power of "Idol." Or, more accurately, rarely underestimate the power of an "Idol" -- the show hasn't been a bounty of success on all of those who have touched its multi-platform powers.

But former "Idol" star Kelly Clarkson has made a powerful return to the charts. Billboard reports that her "My Life Would Suck Without You" will make history Thursday, bolting from No. 97 on the U.S. singles chart to the pole position. The song, according to the story, sold 280,000 digital downloads in its first week of release. Billboard reports that "My Life Would Suck Without You" is her seventh top-10 hit since 2005.

Read the full post over at Pop and Hiss.

Photo: Associated Press

Kelly Clarkson video sneak peek Wednesday

Kelly Clarkson, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets are giving us another reason to tune in to "Idol" this Wednesday: During a commercial break in the Jan. 28 episode, Clarkson's new video for her new single "My Life Would Suck Without You" will be previewed.

After the preview airs, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets will offer exclusive access to the full-length video for 24 hours:

-- AT&T Mobility customers can get a link to watch it on their mobile phones by texting KELLY to 8008.

-- AT&T U-verse customers can access the video for free through the U-verse TV Video on Demand (VOD) storefront.

-- All fans can watch it online at http://www.att.net.

For more details, check out the news on Breitbart.

Now, to hold you over till Wednesday night, AT&T has ring tones available of this and other Clarkson songs.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Snap Judgment: Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You

Over at our sister blog, Pop and Hiss, LA Times chief music critic and Idoltracker regular Ann Powers weighs in on the Prodigal Daughter, Kelly Clarkson's new single, available at last to be heard by human ears.  She writes:

File this one under "predictable": Kelly Clarkson has returned from her Persephone-like journey across the pop-goth River Styx on the excellent but commercially disappointing album "My December" with a shiny, streamlined new cut meant to break the speed limit up the charts. Hear it for yourself on her YouTube page. 

There's no reason this song won't be huge. "My Life Would Suck Without You," co-written and produced by absolute hit makers Dr. Luke and Max Martin, zooms forward from its guitar-plucky intro toward a cymbal-crashing climax without ever slowing down. There's no time to question the empty calories delivered within those compressed, subtly Auto-Tuned vocals, which ride some sneakily accelerating high-fructose beats.

You will be singing this song by your third listen, and that third listen will be unavoidable, because without a bridge or even one blue note, it's perfectly suited to the formats that support 21st century pop -- especially YouTube parodies and singing toothbrushes.

But is Kelly in there, amid the syn-drums and keyboard bleeps? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, that depends on the meaning of "in."

Read it all right here.

I can hear Kelly Clarkson!

The teaspoon-by-teaspoon Return of the Prodigal Daughter Rollout continues. So far, we've been given Kelly Clarkson's single title, art and lyrics -- and her album title and cover (see above). And today, at last, the original Idol's voice is heard. 

A 30-second snippet from the first single "My Life Would Suck Without You" was leaked, (or should we say "leaked") onto the Web this morning, giving Idol Nation just a taste and confirmation of the Prodigal Daughter's reported return to her pop roots.

You can listen to the snippet here. What do you think? Hungry for the next "leak" still?

--Richard Rushfield

Kelly Clarkson shares her lyrics

With eight days to go until Season 8, it's a big morning for Idol news. We're going to tackle as much as we can here, but at this moment, the major event burning up the wires is the unveiling of the complete lyrics for prodigal Idol Kelly Clarkson's forthcoming single, "My Life Would Suck Without You."

The roll out of this comeback album has been a campaign worthy of a World War II invasion plan. In drips and drabs, slowly we have been given glimpses first of the name of the single, then the name of the album, then a release date, then the testimony of expert witnesses who had been granted a glimpse of the prodigal album and dubbed it a return to form and then the cover art (at top).

Now, today, we get the next taste of the shape of Kelly to come. Popeater on AOL has unveiled the complete lyrics to the first single from the upcoming album. The lyrics build on the theme suggested in the song's title, "My Life Would Suck Without You."  In them, Kelly suggests that

Being with you is so dysfunctional
I really shouldn't miss you, but I can't let go

Those who wish to read the song as a metaphor for her sometimes stormy relationship with the burdens and machinery of Idoldom are welcome to do so. Complete lyrics after the jump: