3Kelly Clarkson is Dating Reba McIntyre’s Stepson?

From Us magazine:

Single since 2006, the first-ever American Idol winner, 29, revealed to a Toronto radio station March 6 that she’s been off the market since late last year. “I have a new boyfriend!” Clarkson gushed.

Sources tell the new issue of Us Weekly (on stands Friday) the lucky guy is 35-year-old Nashville-based talent manager Brandon Blackstock, the son of Clarkson’s own manager, Narvel Blackstock (and stepson of Reba McEntire).

“Before Brandon, Kelly had a really tough time with love,” an insider says of the Grammy winner, who split from singer Graham Colton six years ago. “[Brandon] is just what she needed.”

Wow. A six-year dry spell. Six years. I wonder if Kells had any sex during that six-year period, or if that song she wrote is for true, ‘I Do Not Hook Up‘. Hm. Thoughts on if Kelly was getting the bone on the regular?

In other Kelly news, girlfriend’s been chosen as a judge for the upcoming talent reality show, ‘Duets’, which will star three other celebrity judges like Lionel Richie, Robin Thicke, and Jennifer Nettles, of Sugarland fame. Check out the trailer for the show:

The concept is pretty neat, right? Sort of like Dancing With the Stars minus all of the dancing and dub-in the singing. The best part about it is that these four people – these four judges – are actually talented, and like they said in the trailer, it’s going to be interesting to see the four celebrities perform week in and week out, and no matter how hard the actual contestants suck, they should consistently be good. The flip side, however, is turning the oh-my-God-how-played-out-are-singing-shows-already card. Do we really need *another* televised singing competition? We’ve got American Idol, both versions of the X-Factor, The Voice, and now Duets? I’m sure I’m missing a few here or there, but these are the big ones that get the most attention, so they’re on the tip of my tongue.

One way or the other, though, it’s all good news for Kelly. New gig, new boy … what’s next? Maybe some new hair! That’d be, you know, the next logical step. Or the next necessary step, if you ask me.

Congrats, gurl.

March 14, 2012 at 4:30 pm by Sarah

1How’d Kelly Clarkson Do on the National Anthem?

I don’t know about you guys, but I was not excited about Madonna’s halftime show. “Greatest show on Earth” I’m hearing? Ugh, hardly.

I personally enjoyed Kelly Clarkson‘s ‘Star-Spangled Banner’. It was nice to see a performer actually sing live, and while there were no pyrotechnics and, you know, obnoxious robe-wearing Cee Lo Green to complement her performance, it was solid and my God did she look good. Plus, Kelly’s “choir” beat the ever-loving hell out of Madonna‘s. And there was no CGI that sent me into fits of seizures (but to be fair, it might not have been the CGI that did it – it could very well have been the hot wing dip and the two whole cans of Coke I drank.

But anyway, yes, I did watch the Super Bowl, and I thought it was a crap game. Yes, because I loathe the Giants, and yes, because my team (the Saints) got so close and missed it, and also, yes, because there was really like, two plays that occurred that were “exciting,” but on the whole the entire thing – aside from the promising start, what with Kelly Clarkson’s fine ass belting out the National Anthem and Blake Shelton and his wife doing their thing for ‘America the Beautiful’ – was really, really boring and I think I paid more attention to ‘Words With Friends’ than I did to the game itself.

That, my friends, is a sign that this Super Bowl was just ill-fated.

February 6, 2012 at 5:30 am by Sarah

0Kelly Clarkson Covered Etta James This Past Weekend

But if you were like me, you hardly heard of Etta James and that whole dying thing on Facebook because people were way overwhelmed by the OMGSURPRISE death of Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno, who was eighty-five years old and fighting lung cancer. Totally out of left field, that one was. I almost died, myself, of surprise.

Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a regional thing (I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and a lot of my friends had gone to Penn State, so naturally, the childhood-friend section of Facebook was blowing all up about it), but it was big. Huge. People were contemplating suicide, saying Joe Paterno was like a grandfather, talking about what kind of “JOEPA TATTOOS” they should get … I kind of wanted to kill myself just listening to everything. I began vowing that anyone who posted anything about Joe Paterno or how Penn State gave him lung cancer and made him eight-five years old and because he was kicked out of the university as head football coach that was why he died, I would start unsubscribing from people. And folks, I did. Big time. I think there’s, like, twenty whole people left on my Facebook that actually show up in my feed, and the rest are websites’ feeds. No joke.

Anyway. Kelly did a show at the Radio City Music Hall this past weekend where she covered Etta’s classic song, ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. Needless to say, she did an amazing job.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s sad and everything that Joe Paterno passed. But I didn’t know him any more than I knew Etta James. Both are sad. Sad, sad things. Lung cancer and leukemia suck. My thing is that I just think it’s strange what people say about others after they’ve died, and how people are randomly canonized because they were … well, whatever they were.

RIP Etta and Joe.

January 23, 2012 at 5:30 pm by Sarah

10Kelly Clarkson Endorses Ron Paul, Sales Explode

We didn’t cover this as it was happening yesterday (Sarah linked to the ongoing story, though, so no excuses, people), but Kelly Clarkson experienced a huge backlash after endorsing Ron Paul as her personal presidential pick, via her Twitter account.

Is Kelly Clarkson wrong to endorse Ron Paul? Is Ron Paul a racist homophobe? I neither know nor care. I have few of his political views in common, I read a lot daily; therefore, I chopped him from my reading list months ago. And anyway, I already think worse about many other candidates as it is, so I’m really just fiddling until I hear about some all-new option to research. Sorry for being as poorly-read as Kelly Clarkson.

But as I read about this, oof, I felt really bad for Kells. I mean, sure, I used to get irritated anytime celebrities disclosed their personal politics (or religion, or atheism), but now I’m just like, oh, whatever, we all have fish to go fry. I’ve decided I can stand Ricky Gervais in small doses after all, and I get really excited when Matt Damon says or does anything. We willingly endure the ones we love, right? So tweet on, you nutty, carefree celebrities. Except maybe you, Victoria Jackson.

FURTHERMORE (sorry for derailing, twice now), I feel bad for Kelly Clarkson because Kelly Clarkson isn’t exactly promoting an unpopular stance. She is from Texas (me, too!), where Paul is actually a lot more popular than Governor Perry. That’s a totally cultural thing. Clarkson also says she wants to vote for a media underdog; even Jon Stewart has acknowledged Ron Paul’s viability as a candidate, which, hey, that’s some serious cred.

Anyway, here’s the fun part: ever since Clarkson’s Twitter controversy became news, her sales have exploded. Music site Idolator reports that, in 24 measly hours, Clarkson’s latest studio album has jumped from #41 to #13 on Amazon’s sales chart. I KNOW. If having a political view gets you that kind of crazy money, why stop?

So high-five, Kelly Clarkson. I honestly wish you weren’t so famous and that we were BFFs, because I would take your talented Texan 29-year-old libertarian ass out for a beer.

December 31, 2011 at 1:00 pm by Jenn

0Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, and Mary J. Blige Sang for an Amy Winehouse Tribute on VH1

Damn, can these ladies sing or what? However, I personally prefer Florence Welch‘s tribute to Amy, which you can check out right here, despite it’s craptastic quality:

Really, now, no comparison, right? We’re all in agreement here that Florence was definitely way more spot-on in channeling and shooting off a tribute to Amy Winehouse than, say, Kelly Clarkson with her snippet of “Since You’ve Been Gone,” yes?

December 20, 2011 at 12:30 pm by Sarah

0Kelly Clarkson Has a Thing for “Mr.” and “Miss”-Themed Songs

But it works regardless. Kelly appeared on last night’s Leno, performing her latest single, ‘Mr. Know-It-All’, off her latest album, Stronger. Either way, it’s nice to see that there still are some real pop singers left in the world who don’t rely on weird, electro-autotune to give them the edge over their pretty-limited competition. I may not really dig your kind of music, Kelly, but I do love you!

Are there still any big Kelly fans out there?

Here’s the video for Kelly’s ‘Miss Independent,’ circa 2003, if you forgot she wrote that one (I, for one, did not).

September 21, 2011 at 7:30 am by Sarah