Kelly Clarkson is preparing to release a brand-new album!
During a recent interview with Access Daily‘s Mario Lopez and Kit Hoover in which she also discussed her upcoming gig hosting the 2023 NFL Honors, Clarkson called the project “her most personal record.”
“This is my most personal record,” Clarkson said. “And it’s not all bad – like, there is heartbreak in it, and there is sadness in it, definitely, but there’s also the whole arc of a relationship.”
“I had to get through it to even talk about it, so I don’t break down in an interview and cry about it – so I’m there now,” she explained.
The 40-year-old singer and host of The Kelly Clarkson Show had previously shared details about her new album during a recent Instagram Live.
In revealing what she was most excited to tell fans this year, Clarkson said she has a new album coming out.
“I swear. I know I’ve been talking about it, but look I’m going to be really honest with you…and there’s a really cool way we’re releasing it that we’re formulating right now. But, um, it took a minute for me to be able to release this album,” she admitted. “Because I had to be over it, through it, all around it,” she added.
Clarkson’s currently untitled project represents her first release since her divorce from husband, Brandon Blackstock. The pair, who share two children, wed in 2013 before Clarkson filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences” as her reason for wanting to end the marriage in 2020.
In a recent cover story for Variety, Clarkson said music has been very helpful for her healing journey.
“This is an important album. I’m working on this in therapy: I have a hard time vocalizing what I’m feeling sometimes, so music is helpful for me. It’s just been really healing,” she told the outlet.
“When my ex and I first separated, there were many emotions. It was hard. I hadn’t really been working hardcore on an album until I needed to. I was just very busy. There were so many jobs, and I’m a single mom — well, even with being married, it’s a lot, trying to fit kids’ schedules in and all that stuff. But then the whole divorce thing happened, and I needed to write it.”
“My producer and I were laughing yesterday because I was like, ‘Remember that time we wrote, like, 25 songs in a week?’ A lot of those are the ones that are on the album. I literally wrote most of these almost two years ago,” she continued. “Then I told my label, ‘I can’t talk about this until I’ve gone through it,’ and it’s just taken some time to do that.”
Back in May, Clarkson had said she wasn’t ready to release any new music about her divorce just yet, telling E! Red Carpet & Award Shows‘ Elise Edwards that the project had really “changed” and “morphed” over the last two year. At the time, Clarkson also explained how she was putting her career on pause over the summer in order to spend more time with her children.
Now that things have changed and Clarkson is gearing up for her release, she’s excited to share more about her latest project, including its cover photo.
“You’re gonna want [the new album] on a vinyl just for the picture alone… that’s incredible and that’s not photoshopped,” Clarkson told PEOPLE.
While fans may have to wait a little longer to hear Clarkson’s new album, they can catch her hosting the 2023 NFL Honors on Feb. 9 at 9pm ET / 8pm CT live from Phoenix on NBC, NFL Network, or Peacock.
