https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FHYBQxURQo
Kelly Clarkson brought the house down, and in the process brought judges Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez to tears, in an emotional return to the American Idol stage Thursday night, ET Online is reporting .
You may remember that Clarkson, now 33, was the first-ever American Idol winner back in 2002. Idol , now in its 15th and final season, brought back its original champion to serve as guest host, and to belt out her chart-topping hit, “Piece by Piece.”
Kelly had difficulty making it through the song , according to The Daily Mail , breaking up into tears as the Idol audience chanted her name. Judges J Lo and Harry Connick Jr. got misty-eyed. So did Idol front-runner La’Porsha Renae. Keith Urban wept openly.
#IdolTonight with @kelly_clarkson , @KeithUrban ‘s face sums it up. I think this is how we all felt. pic.twitter.com/O1caimwZ5d
— Colin Dyer (@ColinDyerMusic) February 26, 2016
After the standing-ovation performance, a tearful Kelly explained to host Ryan Seacrest why she cried during her performance.
“I’m pregnant, it’s nostalgic, I can’t believe it’s the last season, I am really sorry I just bawled. I am actually quite proud I made it that far.”
It’s not just the combination of pregnancy hormones, the pumped-up crowd, and the emotional farewell season of American Idol that appears to have gotten Kelly crying Thursday night. “Piece by Piece” is a deeply emotional song, with heartbreaking lyrics about a small child being abandoned by her father.
Speaking to Glamour in March 2015, Clarkson explained how she wrote “Piece by Piece” from a place of pain in her own life: as a young girl growing up in Texas, a young Kelly Clarkson was abandoned by her own father when she was six years old.
“I had [my daughter] River, and even from holding her the first day, I was like, ‘how could anyone walk away from that?’ It’s a positive song, even though I know it sounds sad. I don’t know what my father went through as a child, and I don’t know why he left and made the decisions he made, but everyone’s human. I don’t understand it for me, but I understand the depth of what that is—having a child—now, and he’s made me want to be that much more present in my family.”
Besides bringing down the house with her own performance, Kelly Clarkson admirably held her own when it came to her guest-hosting duties. And she was clear from the beginning that she believes front-runner La’Porsha Renae is the woman to beat.
“It is not my turn to speak but I don’t care… If I were you, which God bless I wish I were, every time I opened my mouth to sing I would be like, ‘You are welcome.’ That is such a talent. You’re gonna win, if you don’t win I don’t understand. I love everyone here but you are so, so blessed. I love her, I want to be La’Porsha.”
When not stumping for La’Porsha, Clarkson had some words of advice for the remaining contestants. She was guarded with her criticism of high school student Gianna Isabella’s performance of Beyonce’s “Listen,” telling the young singer – whose performance was harshly criticized by the other judges – that she is young and that she needs to quit focusing on technique and instead pour her emotions into her songs.
It’s a bit of advice Kelly seems to have taken to heart, considering the reaction her own performance got.
Did you see Kelly Clarkson’s performance of “Piece by Piece” on American Idol Thursday night, and if so, what did you think?
[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
