Success of Pop Rock Singer: Kelly Clarkson

(Last Updated On: March 31, 2023)

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The popular American pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson who hails from Fort Worth, Texas as her birthplace, was born in April 1982.  Her full name is Kelly Brianne Clarkson, and she’s also known to be an actress and songwriter.  Kelly was raised in a small community named Burleson, situated in a suburban area of Fort Worth.

Her older siblings are Jason and Alyssa, and she’s the 3rd and the youngest in the family with her parents Stephen Clarkson and Jeanne Rose who was a 1st grade teacher.  She was catapulted to fame when she won the 1st season of the world-famous TV series titled American Idol in the year 2002.  Later in 2003, she became the representative of the US in the World Idol contest.

Pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson’s vocal abilities and talents have been praised by a lot of celebrities and critics as well.  During an interview with Simon Cowell at Good Morning America, he was asked who among the 6 American Idol winners he believed possessed the best voice.  Without 2nd thoughts, Cowell answered that it was Kelly, doing it “by a mile”.

He further commented that Kelly can be lined-up together with other great icons in music like Celine Dion.  So far, Kelly was able to release 4 albums under RCA Records.  These include her debut album titled Thankful which received a double-platinum in 2003, and her 2nd album named Breakaway which was awarded a multi-platinum in 2004, and has won 2 Grammy Awards.

Commenting on Kelly Clarkson’s Singing Voice

Compared to Mariah Carey’s 5-octave classic voice, Kelly has a friendly, down-to-earth type of voice, but both of them have fierce, compelling voices.

Rolling Stone’s Arion Berger has commented that Kelly’s high notes are dreamy and sweet, her powerful pitch is sexy and nerve-shaking, and she has a mid-range that is overwhelming and attracting the attention of a noisy crowd.  These are exactly the qualities that made Kelly Clarkson enter the world of American Idols.

The producer and songwriter of some of her top music hits named Dr. Luke stated that Kelly has magnificent lungs and vocal cords that are similar to what Lance Armstrong has.  Kelly is being distinguished as possessing the highest number of albums sold in the US ending November 2009 among the list of American Idols.  During the period of May 2010, Billboard has declared Kelly Clarkson as “American Idol’s most successful winner” through the years based on sales of the album, sales of singles, and ranking in radio music plays.

Vocal Strengths

Kelly Clarkson is a singer with the first-class musical style which makes her a staggering emoter. She has the best echelon belter. Her Echelon belter can strike any portion of her belting range with great ease. This ability can be observed in a song name Duets rehearsal when she hits A5 notes. Her belts are drawn vigorously from lung power. These heavy power belts can bolster up to the F#5/F5 range and have the ability to hit Soprano C or C6. Here, her voice also can slice through even necessary and band courses of action like in the song “My country tis of thee.” Her most resonant belts are from Eb5 to G5.

Kelly’s falsetto is delicate and light, adding heartfelt attributes and passionate leverage to her melodies or ballads. Until 2015 she rarely used head voice. Her head voice is spotless and full which can be witnessed in the song “Tightrope.” The weak parts of her range were the low notes below Bb3. Now with the passage of time, she has shown some remarkable improvement in the low notes below Bb3. This can be witnessed in the song “Cover off lies where she hits down to Eb3. While in the song “harmony in Good Goes the Bye,” she produced a dark quality while hitting the notes at C#3. She has managed well to support her mid-range which is full.

Kelly has full control and command over vocal drives executions in her vocal range, whenever she wants. This can be heard in the two songs namely “Let Me Down” and “honestly” respectively when she hits the F5’s notes. She can also do so even without using melisma. However, she is much more capable of utilizing the technique as she did in a song known as “See why don’t you try.” One of the vital talents Clarkson possesses is vibrato. Her vibratos are wider and rolling. This can be seen in the songs “Mr. Know it all country version” and “Honestly.” She uses her dazzling vibrato majorly in her voice at F3 to C6 and C6 to G6 notes.

Her voice is genuinely best in pop and rock styling music. However, she is also capable of transcending her voice above through numerous kinds, including Pop, Rock, Country, Indie, Gospel, R&B, Jazz, and Classical. With this capacity to accommodate various kinds, she has secured a far-reaching list of craftsmen on the “American Idol show” and also on her most recent visits. A portion of the specialists she has handled incorporates Sara Bareilles, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Adele, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Radiohead, and even Aretha Franklin.

She uses the whistle register most of the time, but still, it is light. She has remained successful in maintaining a smooth-rolling vibrato.

Vocal Weaknesses

Kelly uses her upper portion of the chest register and tries to push voice in it in order to create distortion. This is generally because of the unique traits of her melodies, overwhelming touring, and conflicting techniques. Kelly’s upper belts are lodged deep down to the throat which results in damaged sound delivery.

Though, a couple of years of experience and practicing better techniques diminished this impact (2012-2013). In her live performances and in the studio she uses her whistle register.

The first Kelly Clarkson pregnancy had affected her voice significantly. She was helpless in holding C5’s notes producing a cracked voice and also inconsistency was observed in her belting voice. Her head voice in the sixth octave lacks accuracy and precision.

As a conclusion, she has inconsistency in her singing voice. She usually takes pride and puts enthusiastic, emotional conveyance over specialized perfection (an appraisal she already has admitted).

Kelly Clarkson’s Vocal Range & Voice Type

Kelly Clarkson’s vocal range lies in C3 – C6 – G6 (F7). And her most extensive note is 11 seconds. Her vocal type is a light-lyric soprano with four notes and octaves. Few of her recommended listening, or songs are Why Don’t You Try, Invincible, Honesty, and Sober.

Achievements

The other 2 are My December produced in 2007, and the latest album that she released in 2009 entitled All I Ever Wanted which got a nomination for a Grammy Award.  She was able to achieve sales of more than 10.5 million copies for her albums in the US alone.  Pop-rock singer Kelly Clarkson is listed as the only American Idol participant who has reached # 1 in the UK charts.

Her “My Life Would Suck Without You” got number 1 in downloads alone in March 2009.  Kelly also ranked top in Nielsen SoundScan’s 200 album sellers of the era placing at number 187.  Among her singles, 11 were included in the Top 20 hits of Billboard’s Hot 100.  The song entitled My Life Would Suck Without You, rose from number 97 to number 1 in the list of Hot 100 during the 1st week of its release.

This was noted to be a record-breaking performance in the history of music chart records for attaining the biggest leap to the highest spot.  Pop-rock singer Kelly Clarkson has already gone on an extensive tour worldwide as a solo performer.  Likewise, she has performed in other editions of American Idol like the Australian Idol, Canadian Idol, Swedish Idol, and Pop Idol.  Immediately after the release of her duet version of the song Because of You in 2007 alongside Reba McEntire, and her appearance in CMT Crossroads, they collaborated in the Two Worlds Two Voices Tour way back 2008.

For her album sales, radio plays and single sales, pop-rock singer Kelly Clarkson was given the honor of being the best-selling American Idol by Billboard.

Kelly Clarkson on American Idol

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