Making moves! Kelly Clarkson opened up about joining season 14 of The Voice and revealed whether she was approached by American Idol to partake in the show’s reboot.
“The Voice, literally, it’s almost full circle for me how I started singing,” Clarkson, who kickstarted her career on Idol, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday, January 9. “I started singing opera and everything was behind screen so my whole life, starting in music for years, was literally me having to be perfect behind that screen.”
The “Love So Soft” singer, 35, said that her favorite part of The Voice is its blind audition process, where judges don’t see the contestant face-to-face when they sing for the first time. “That literally is the thing that separates The Voice for me … It’s a rare opportunity that this show represents that people might not get through on other shows,” Clarkson said. “That’s my favorite part of the show. It is interesting to make it about talent first. That’s why I love this show.”
The Grammy winner also disclosed that American Idol producers asked her to join the revival as a judge. “I’m not being, like, egocentric, but I think just a lot of people reach out to me to be a part of singing things, for obvious reasons,” Clarkson told Us and other reporters on a panel on Tuesday. “Just because I was in the first one that everybody kind of watched.”
Nonetheless, she was still drawn to The Voice: “It literally does come back to those blind auditions that really separates everything and it means something to me because I think that’s who I represent, those people in this industry,” she said. “I don’t fit the pop star image that people expect all the time. But I am a pop star and this is the image that I exude. That’s why this show really does complement my desires for this industry.”
While speaking to Us at the Golden Globes on Sunday, January 7, Clarkson added that she’s excited to help other singers launch their careers. “I’m so stoked about The Voice for many reasons, but the main one being it’s cool to be able to give to other people what was done for me,” she said. “I’m excited. We already started filming, it’s been so fun.”
Reporting by Emily Longeretta
The Voice season 14 premieres on NBC Monday, February 26, at 8 p.m. ET.
