Kelly Clarkson Doubts She’d Be Successful on Current ‘Idol’ Clones

Remember when Kelly Clarkson wowed early American Idol audiences with her raw talent and went on to win the competition and have a fairly successful career?

Clarkson has stood as an artist in her own right well after her time on AI– her newest single just leaked– but that doesn’t mean the singer has let years of success get to her head. In a recent interview, Clarkson opined that she might not even make the cut on some of the modern spin-offs of the show that made her famous.

Clarkson reckons that she might have passed muster on one, but is less confident about her chances on Simon Cowell’s newest venture. The singer says:

“I’d have done OK on The Voice but I’m not sure about The X Factor. They’re looking for that person who walks through the door and is super captivating. I walk in and people say ‘You remind me of my cousin’.”

Clarkson also spoke of another trend that has come to the forefront in the years since her epic Idol win. She says she gets why autotune has caught on with artists, but praises the music she listened to growing up as not always perfect but real:

“I understand why people use [Autotune] for texture but I grew up listening to Patsy Cline and Aretha Franklin – they weren’t perfectly ‘on’ all the time… There’s a lot to be said for performances that are raw and emotional and not perfect. When I hear ‘Since U Been Gone’ or ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’, I love the songs but the vocal is so compressed it kills me.”

Clarkson’s new album Stronger drops later this month.