Aside from the popular Kellyoke segment on her daytime talk show, Kelly Clarkson hasn’t had the chance to perform live regularly since 2019 — until next month, that is.
The singer/songwriter will launch her Chemistry…An Intimate Night With Kelly Clarkson residency in Las Vegas on July 28, and she promises you’ll hear her biggest hits when she hits the stage for 10 dates at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.
“I’ll be straight up: I’m gonna be that artist who’s definitely gonna give you all those songs you want to hear, because I hate when I go to shows and people don’t give me that,” Clarkson tells Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast (listen to the full episode below). “So you’re gonna hear all the ones that, honestly, we haven’t performed in forever. We haven’t been able to!”
Clarkson got a small taste of performing again when she live-debuted her new album Chemistry two months before its release, during a secret birthday show on April 24 at the 1,500-capacity Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles. In addition to playing every song from her 10th studio album, she broke off a couple of treats for the superfan crowd. “At Belasco, we surprised everybody with ‘Miss Independent’ and ‘Since U Been Gone.’ I feel like we haven’t done a tour in forever, so that was really exciting for us, selfishly. We’re just excited to play the hits.”
Beyond the hits — which includes three No. 1s from 11 top 10s on the Billboard Hot 100 — Clarkson also plans to shake up the setlist each night, with new covers, deep cuts and Chemistry tracks scattered across the 10 concerts.
“All 10 shows will be different,” she promises. “There’s definitely gonna be the hits in all of them, but we’re sprinkling in covers that people have liked or album tracks that people have liked here and there. … I’m going to hit all the [new] album, just on different nights.”
In addition to the new album and residency, Clarkson is also navigating a cross-country move for her Kelly Clarkson Show, which will tape from New York instead of Los Angeles starting this fall. “I couldn’t really give any other shows right now,” she says of her busy schedule. “Because I’m also moving to New York, so that’s another thing. So it’s not enough time.”
While Clarkson is looking forward to doing a big spectacle of a show sometime soon — which is what she originally had planned for her Vegas residency that was set to kick off in 2020 but was scrapped due to the pandemic — the Chemistry concerts will be a little more stripped-down, to match the vulnerable new album.
“It’s gonna be more of an intimate [show], like looking you in the eye, having conversations — kind of like Belasco, kind of more that vibe,” she says. “And the last Vegas thing that we were going to do was very different. It was huge. It was just more of a spectacle kind of thing, which is what people obviously usually go to Vegas for, but it didn’t fit where I’m at right now or this record for me. So I just changed it. I feel like that show will come one day, right? But I just feel like it wasn’t right, right now.”
Listen to the full Pop Shop Podcast above to hear more of our conversation about the new album, including the meaning behind the new song “Rock Hudson” and more.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time spends a 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — the most weeks at No. 1 in over a decade. Plus, as Wallen’s “Last Night” holds firm at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” bumps up to No. 2, marking the first time two country songs have been Nos. 1 and 2 on the chart in over 40 years. Katie & Keith are also discussing the latest music headlines, including Drake’s poetry book/album, Olivia Rodrigo’s official album announcement, and Pink getting an unexpected surprise onstage when a fan threw her mom’s ashes from the crowd.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
