Kelly Clarkson
For a performer whose teeny-bopping career was birthed on FOX’s “American Idol,” Kelly Clarkson has made little effort at keeping up with the recent victims of Simon Cowell’s quick tongue.
“To be honest with you, I hadn’t seen the show,” Clarkson told the BBC, last month, of the most recent season of ‘Idol.’ “Like even mine, I hadn’t seen my finale till like six months afterwards. I’m always on tour whenever the show’s on, so yeah, I can’t keep up with it.”
Although the TV contest/reality series brought her name recognition, exposed her to millions of fans every week and brought her mainstream success, Clarkson would like to believe Idol won’t be the defining characteristic of her career.
It’s going to take many more MTV Video Music Awards – like the two she won last month, edging out Gwen Stefani for Best Female Video and also claiming Best Pop Video – to make “Idol” go away.
“Usually my favorite thing whenever I get, like, reviews after shows now, my favorite thing is, ‘she got her first step from ‘Idol’ but has totally proved herself,’ you know,” she said.
Like, we totally get it.
Fans have a chance to decide for themselves if Clarkson has escaped the “Idol” shadow when she comes to the Spokane Arena’s Star Theatre Monday at 7:30. Tickets are available for $37.50 through TicketsWest, (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.
For a 23-year-old platinum-selling star, touring behind her latest release “Breakaway,” Clarkson claims to have avoided classic divarific pitfalls. In fact, she told VH1 that the only thing she must have at every show is water – it doesn’t matter what brand – and peanut butter and jelly, as long as the peanut butter is “extra, extra crunchy.”
She even gave up her own tour bus earlier this year, because she missed spending time with her band, which has been with her for three years.
“On this tour I wanted to be on the bus with the band, and at first they were like, ‘Oh, great, we’re riding with the boss,’” she told VH1 earlier in the summer. “Now they’re mad: I have to get my own bus for the next leg of the tour because there’s too many people to fit on just one.”
That, or the band is sick of riding with the boss.