Kelly Clarkson is taking full control of her music career! The Grammy-winning singer recently revealed that she has started her own record label, High Road Records, where she will now release all of her music. She also shared that new music is on the way and will drop sooner than fans think (in May).
Clarkson Opened Up About Exciting New Chapter Of Her Career
While chatting with Kylie Kelce on the Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce podcast, Clarkson opened up about this exciting new chapter of her career, detailing how freeing it is to make her own decisions without being told what to do by a group of label executives.
“I work really well under pressure. I work really well when someone says I can’t do something,” Clarkson explained. “Someone’s like, well, you’re not allowed to do that… or at the time too, when I came out, I had people throw stuff, and you’re competing with this. And I’m like, I can’t compete with that. That’s not who I am as an artist. That’s them and that’s cool. And I’m totally down for what everybody wants to do artistically, but I can’t compete with that, so I’m not going to, that’s going to be so transparent that that’s not me. They try and put you in the little boxes of what will sell. But yeah, it was a struggle and a fight the whole time.”
All the label pressures made Kelly Clarkson “stronger” and allowed her to become the superstar that she is today. “I am who I am because of all that. So whatever I do work well under pressure. Do I think I have to handle it? And should we have to handle it? No, but I can, and I tend to thrive when someone is pushing back. So maybe I got here because of that,” she pointed out.
Launches Her Own Record Label, High Road Records
Now, with High Road Records, Kelly Clarkson has the creative freedom that she’s always wanted with her music. The singer/songwriter is excited to get back to making music she’s passionate about, rather than chasing radio hits or worrying about sales.
“That’s why it means a lot to me to now have High Road Records… just for me to release my stuff… It’s not that I’m out here chasing hits anymore, but it’s like, man, what a beautiful thing,” she continued, before detailing, “For the first reason I started writing to get things out because I wasn’t hilariously enough, I wouldn’t open up or talk. I have a talk show, but I wouldn’t when I was younger. And so music was my therapy and writing lyrics and all that was my therapy. So to be able to come back to that with no cooks in the kitchen, but just the ones you’re inviting for fun to play.”
Promises New Music In May of 2025
The 42-year-old mother of two then revealed she has been writing songs with her guitarist, Jaco Caraco. “We wrote this current one that we’re going to be putting out. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say May,” Clarkson said, unveiling that she has a brand new single coming out next month.
“But, It’s coming out in May, anyway, but it’s fun because we’re playing, and it’s like why you’ve started in the first place of like, let’s not chase a radio,” Clarkson added. “You don’t have all those things that labels have to say in order to make money. So I’m not downing them, but they have to make a profit, so I don’t have to really do that anymore.”
High Road Records Was Announced Earlier This Year
Clarkson first announced High Road Records back in January 2025 on The Kelly Clarkson Show while talking with Keke Palmer. “It’s my first time in my career and I just now started my own label, and I’m putting out my own stuff,” Clarkson told Palmer at the time on the show. “And I’ve had some good teams, like, to work with, but there is nothing like being that 10-year-old again and being excited and nobody saying ‘Oh, you should do this’ and ‘You should do this.’”
She added, “I feel like I’ve earned it, so I’m excited. I think I’ve earned the moment.”
Fans eagerly awaiting new music from Kelly Clarkson won’t have to wait much longer now, as The Kelly Clarkson Show host revealed her first release on High Road Records arrives in May, and she couldn’t be more excited about the fresh new start to her career.
