Kelly Clarkson is singing the blues over her latest single "Already Gone" because it sounds too similar to Beyonce's hit "Halo."
In a weekend interview with Canada's CBC radio network, Clarkson reveals that she had been battling behind the scenes to keep the song — which she co-wrote with songwriter Ryan Tedder — from being released after she realized it resembled Beyonce's "Halo," another Tedder tune.
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Only when her new album All I Ever Wanted was ready to be shipped did she hear "Halo" and know that the same backing track was used, she claims. Outraged, Clarkson says she confronted her co-writer on the phone, "I don't understand. Why would you do that?
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"No one's gonna be sittin' at home, thinking 'Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyonce and Kelly the same track to write to,'" she recalls saying. "No, they're just gonna be saying I ripped someone off." "I fought and fought" to stop it, she says, but "in the end, they're releasing it without my consent,"
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Adds Clarkson (who belted out the power ballad on The Late Show with David Letterman two weeks ago), "It sucks, but it's one of those things I have no control over. I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it. It's kind of a s*****y situation, but . . . you know, you learn."
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This isn't the first time the American Idol champ has clashed with collaborators. In 2007, she faced off against RCA honcho Clive Davis over the release of her third album My December. He said the album lacked radio hits; she disagreed and aired her frustrations to the press. ("I am not a fan [of Davis]," she icily told USA Weekend.) In the end, Clarkson apologized to "those whom I have done disservice" after the release of the album (which failed to go platinum). "I would never intentionally hurt anyone," she said on her website. "I love music, and I love the people I am blessed to work with."
