Review: Kelly Clarkson with Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire at Nokia

One of the first notes I jotted during Kelly Clarkson’s show at the Nokia Theatre on Tuesday night was, simply, “She seems a little distant.” She and her band had already torn through two of her pop-rock songs, but Clarkson, whose bright, bubbly demeanor is one of her trademarks, had offered little other than a brief greeting and a couple smiles. 

Instead, the 29-year-old pop star and winner of the first season of “American Idol” had concentrated on offering her fans a taste of her stunning soprano and allowing her musicians a chance to warm up. As she sang lyrics from “Hazel Eyes”: “Broken up deep inside/But you won’t get to see these tears I cry,”  the words seemed to hit close to home.

That initial observation couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out she was just getting situated, finding her balance -- and probably trying to contain her excitement at the evening to come.

By the time she closed 23 songs later with a rolling, riff-heavy version of “My Life Would Suck Without You,” Clarkson had covered Britney Spears ("Till the End of the World"), made the hall roar by shouting, “Who hates the gym?,” complained about a groin injury, shed tears (“I just Dr. Phil-ed myself,” she said, dabbing at her eyes), and pondered the past-tense grammatical construction of the verb “to duet.” 

Oh, and she had been joined onstage by some friends: Fellow first season “Idol” contestant Tamyra Grey, singer/songwriter Michelle Branch, country singer and “The Voice” star Blake Shelton, and the iconic singer/actor Reba McEntire. 

She was, in fact, the opposite of distant. She was wonderful, the kind of performer you want to sit down and have a beer with after the show and tell her how much you liked her. 

Touring in support of her recent album "Stronger," Clarkson’s concert tracked like one of her songs: a slow, tense beginning that gradually finds a groove, followed by some build-up, a hook, a big, inspiring series of climaxes, and goodbye.

That beginning groove arrived in the form of a string of hits stretching back to one of her first, the Max Martin/Dr. Luke produced "Since U Been Gone," which she performed with a rush of emotion. It was early evidence of how different Clarkson is from so many of her contemporaries in her spontaneity and grace, and how, by sheer force of will and a great sense of her strengths as a singer, she's managed to not only survive but prevail over the course of the decade when so many former "Idol" winners have vanished.

Part of it is her spirit. As she welcomed her first guest, Clarkson got blustery when discussing "Idol" peer Grey, whose star never rose the way Clarkson's did. The affection was sincere; you could see it in the way they locked into each others' eyes when singing "When You Believe," the 1998 Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston song from the animated film "Prince of Egypt." These were friends who'd been through the trenches together. 

When she introduced Branch, Clarkson seemed thrilled, and as Branch strummed out the chords to "Leave the Pieces," her hit with country duo the Wreckers, the excitement helped light up the oppressive darkness of Nokia Theatre, whose cavernous, unadorned nature can be a hurdle.

Shelton towered over Clarkson as they dueted (yes, Miss Clarkson, this is grammatically correct) on Jason Aldean's country hit "Don't You Want to Stay." She and Shelton have been working together on "The Voice" -- she's been one of his team's coaches -- and to see them stand alongside each other and sing the words to "Don't You Want to Stay" was to empathize with the temptations arising from the married Shelton singing along with someone as magnetic as Clarkson. 

Onward Clarkson marched, her band -- two guitars, bass, drums, keyboard and background singers -- working the songs without backing tracks, her set list wonderfully spontaneous, both of which are notable only because so many of her pop singing peers rely in concert on a skeletal band and a rigid set list with little variation from night to night. Clarkson's show was the opposite: It felt like a concert because it was a concert, not a production. 

Near the end, Clarkson told a story about singing along to her favorite music in her room, about being inspired while mouthing the words to her favorite Reba McEntire songs, and how that music shaped her. Given the guests who had already surprised us -- "I feel very popular tonight," she had said at one point -- it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but when Clarkson brought her onto the stage, the screeches were as loud as if she'd just introduced Justin Bieber. 

Clarkson and McEntire, separated in age but connected by voice, sang something that appeared first on Clarkson's 2005 album "Breakaway," but which the pair recorded for McEntire's "Duets" album -- "Because of You." The song, a devastating indictment that Clarkson wrote when she was 16 about her parents' divorce, mentions pain, heartbreak and death, and doesn't offer much in the way of hope. It's not, in fact, a song that her label wanted her to record.

But as is often the case with Clarkson, she won the argument, and proved her doubters wrong. As evidenced by Tuesday's show, she's getting pretty good at that. 

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-- Randall Roberts @liledit

Photo: Kelly Clarkson performs at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live as part of her "Stronger" tour on April 3, 2012. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Kelly Clarkson endorses Ron Paul; incurs wrath from Twitter

"American Idol" pop queen Kelly Clarkson has always identified with fiesty underdogs, and her support of Ron Paul seems to be no different.

On Wednesday, she took to her Twitter and Who Say accounts to write, "I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he's got my vote. Too bad he probably won't."

Not exactly the confidance booster Paul is likely looking for — she may as well have written, "Hey, good luck NOT winning!" — but it was enough to spark an onslaught of criticism from Clarkson's followers, who lambasted her choice in light of the controversy surrounding newsletters issued from Paul or his operatives in the '80s that used racist and homophomobic language.

Video premiere: Kelly Clarkson's 'Dark Side' on VH1's 'Unplugged'

Kelly Clarkson is giving her dance-floor anthems and break-up jams the VH1 “Unplugged” treatment.

On the heels of her recently released album, "Stronger," which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200, the 29-year-old taped an intimate showcase of stripped-down versions of tracks from the album, as well as fitting in one of her massive hits and the cover of Carrie Underwood’s “I Know You Won’t,” which earned her a rousing ovation during a free show at West Hollywood's Troubadour last month.

It’s been nearly a decade since Clarkson was crowned the first "American Idol." Though she's since become a force on the charts with her sassy pop-rock anthems, she revealed to The Times in a recent feature that “Stronger” is a first of sorts for her. The record is the first she's released without having to battle record label brass.

"Literally every album, except this album, I've had to really push for songs or say no on certain stuff," Clarkson told The Times. "It's very easy, obviously, for people when their main goal is to make money. But I don't want to do the same formula as someone else. I want to do my own thing. This album has been a piece of cake. There's no way to describe it. I'm just waiting for the kick in the butt."

“Stronger” is full of sassy pop hooks and dance-floor punch on songs such as the lead single, "Mr. Know It All"; its follow-up, "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)"; and the deceptively titled "Dark Side," all of which she performs on the upcoming special, premiering Thursday.

Watch an exclusive clip of Clarkson performing “Dark Side” after the jump:

RCA to close Jive, Arista and J label imprints [Updated]

 RCA Music Group is slimming down for the holidays by shuttering its Arista, Jive and J Records subsidiaries, a move by new label execs to strengthen the identity of the RCA brand. Artists who have been with those three imprints, which have been home to Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Pitbull, Whitney Houston, Justin Timberlake, Barry Manilow, R. Kelly, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Dido, Jennifer Hudson, Leona Lewis and others, will be shifted to RCA.

[Updated at 11:11 a.m. Oct. 7: "In an effort to refresh RCA Records, all label imprints -- J Records, Arista Records and Jive -- will now be under the the iconic RCA Records label," according to a statement RCA issued Friday.]

Jive produced several of the biggest-selling albums of all time in the midst of the youth pop boom a decade ago, including the multiplatinum hits for 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Spears.

There’s no mention so far of what role under the new arrangement will be played by Davis, who in recent years had continued to sign and develop artists on J.

On Friday morning, there was no indication of the change evident on Jive Records official website, but sites for both J and Arista now default to the RCA Music Group site.

[Updated at 1:27 a.m. Oct. 7: The changes do not affect the Arista Nashville label, or the other three country music labels that are under the Sony Music Nashville umbrella: RCA, Columbia and BNA.  "Arista Nashville and its respective roster are not impacted in any way," Gary Overton, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Nashville, said Friday in a statement. "Our four-label Sony Music Nashville operations remain unchanged."]

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"Steve Jobs gave the blind eyes; the deaf ears" -- Stevie Wonder

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Britney Spears. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Sting tapped for iHeartRadio Music Festival

Billed as "the biggest live music event in radio history," the two-day festival, set for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in September, also features Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj and Kelly Clarkson.

Though summer has already had its fair share of big-ticket, multiday festivals, Clear Channel is kicking off fall with what it's billing as "the biggest live music event in radio history."

The radio conglomerate on Monday announced the lineup for the inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival, and the roster for the two-day festival, set for Sept. 23 and 24 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is quite the who’s who among Top 40.

Night 1 features performances by Coldplay, Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas, John Mayer, Carrie Underwood, Bruno Mars and Jane's Addiction. While Night 2 has Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, Kenny Chesney, Nicki Minaj, Rascal Flatts, Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta, Sublime with Rome and special guest performances by Sting and Usher.

BMI's How I Wrote That Song panel offers a glimpse into the magic of hitmaking [Video]

The songwriters behind smash hits from Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Britney Spears and Beyonce discuss how they wrote the hits at a roundtable event.

It came as a bit of a surprise to see the line of eager last-minute ticket buyers and attendees stretching down the block outside West Hollywood’s Key Club on Saturday. Although Cee Lo Green, Seal and the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo were inside, they weren’t performing. Instead, they were talking songwriting along with lesser-known, behind-the-scenes hit authors Bonnie McKee, BC Jean and Claude Kelly during BMI’s How I Wrote That Song panel.

The writers behind the sticky hooks and melodies that reigned in pop and R&B sat down with Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin and BMI Vice President Catherine Brewton for an in-depth discussion on the particulars of their respective hits.

Kelly Clarkson to stage free show at Hollywood & Highland

Playing a concert in a mall may not be the world's most enviable gig for a pop star, but in the case of Kelly Clarkson, at least it's being televised.

The singer is to appear for a free mini-set at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue on Monday. A portion of the concert, part of the nationwide Summer Krush series sponsored by a major electronics company and a wireless carrier, will be broadcast on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" 

The concert begins at 8 p.m., and fans will be let into the mall courtyard at about 6 p.m. To RSVP for the free event, fans can visit this website. 

Last year, Mariah Carey performed at the Hollywood & Highland complex as part of the series. If Carey's concert is the template, fans can expect about five songs at the event. The "Kimmel" show has staged a few outdoor Hollywood concerts, including performances by Coldplay and Depeche Mode. At the Carey concert inside the Hollywood & Highland complex, a crowd of about 2,000 was considered maximum capacity. 

Clarkson is touring to promote her March release "All I Ever Wanted." The album has sold 694,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

--Todd Martens

Photo credit: Associated Press

Live review: Faith Hill at the Hollywood Bowl

“Dawg! When you hit that high note -- 'That’s the the way that love’s sup-POSE-ed to be' -- THAT was the Faith we’ve come to know and love throughout this competition. That was hot -- you ARE the next American Idol!!”

Oh, that’s right -- Faith Hill got the jump on "American Idol" long ago. Yet it was tough Friday not to keep watching from the wings during the opening of her two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl expecting Randy Jackson or Paula Abdul to pop out and give her a standing ovation.

She’s everything “AI” contestants strive to be: outwardly humble, vocally unrestrained, temperamentally not too hot, not too cold. Hill’s the diva for people who don’t like divas, so even-keeled there’s never a hint of the kind of distracting quirk that can come with a Whitney, Celine, Madonna or even a Kelly.

On Friday, that meant despite the added forces of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra behind her six-piece band and three backup singers, there was a striking shortage of musical electricity during the 65 minutes she was onstage.

Not a shortage of volume or sonic density given close to 100 musicians were there with her. But Hill’s music studiously avoids any sort of dynamic tension or thematic ambiguity that might give listeners a second thought. Or at times even a first one.

Live: The Dead at the Forum and KIIS-FM’s Wango Tango at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine

It’s a day of tie dye and top 40 as the faithful descend upon the two L.A.-area arenas.

Jerry Garcia might have died 15 years ago, but ambling through the parking lot of the Forum on Saturday night, you'd have been hard pressed to know he's gone. Two hours prior to the Dead's first L.A. show in more than a half-a-decade, the sun-scorched asphalt was already swarming with people. The scene was a cross between a Renaissance Faire, a Bedouin crossing and the world's most pot-addled family reunion.

Limousines ferrying baby boomers idled next to withered Winnebagos still following a band that first formed nearly 45 summers ago. Rusting school buses cloaked in rainbow Day-Glo paint were packed to the gills with AARP-aged hippies - the strains of "Scarlet Begonias" mingling with the smoke from dirty windows.

Not so far away, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, a very different kind of arena show was underway: KIIS-FM's Wango Tango, a top-40 blowout featuring Lady GaGa, Kelly Clarkson and the Black Eyed Peas, in addition to a host of other radio-friendly favorites, attended by hordes of screaming teenage girls.

The weekend concerts illustrated two opposing approaches to being a devoted music fan in today's pop culture landscape: Either embrace every genre and artist with the same open-minded ardor or single-mindedly invest all your energies into the one performer, group or style that defines you.

Kelly Clarkson back at No. 1

Kelly Clarkson has flown beyond the horizon with her new album, “All I Ever Wanted,” unseating U2 at the top of the national sales chart. Clarkson’s fourth album sold 255,000 copies in its first week in stores, comfortably ahead of the Irish rock group’s “No Line on the Horizon,” which drops to No. 3 in its second week of release.

The original “American Idol” champ undoubtedly benefited from a blitz of TV appearances during release week, with appearances on the show that launched her career as well as on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”  and ABC’s “Good Morning America” (pictured here) and “Live With Regis and Kelly.” She’s also gotten a boost from the success of the album's first single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“All I Ever Wanted” outsold her sophomore album, “Breakaway,” which logged sales of 250,000 copies when it came out in 2004, and went only as high as No. 3 on the album chart. Her 2003 debut, “Thankful,” started out with 297,000 copies, and 2007’s “My December” opened with 291,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Three other albums debuted in the Top 10, including “The-Dream” at No. 2 with sales of 151,000 copies, J. Holiday’s “Round 2” at No. 4 (55,000) and Chris Cornell’s “Scream,” entering at No. 10 (26,000).

There was little upbeat news overall, as total sales were down more than 6% over last week, according to Billboard, while year-to-date album sales are down 12% compared to last year.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by ABC via Getty Images