Kelly Clarkson Performed This Dolly Parton Love Ballad After Finalizing Her Divorce
Dolly Parton has written many beautiful love songs, such as “Love Is Like a Butterfly” and “Here You Come Again”. However, her most famous love ballad is “I Will Always Love You”, which was later popularized by Whitney Houston. Kelly Clarkson once performed a version of this Dolly Parton classic right after she finalized her divorce.
Kelly Clarkson sang Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ after her divorce was official
Clarkson recently performed “I Will Always Love You” at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards. Her performance was during a tribute to Parton, whose music has impacted country music for over 50 years.
In a recent interview with Andy Cohen on Sirius XM, Clarkson revealed that right before she went on stage, she received a text confirming her divorce from her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. The former American Idol winner thought the timing was absurd.
“Before I go onstage to sing a song called ‘I Will Always Love You,’ I’m looking at Dolly Parton, and I had just gotten a text of like, ‘Hey, your divorce is final. You’ve both signed,’” Clarkson said. “I was like, ‘Screw you, Universe.’ That’s the timing?”
The “Stronger” singer has a powerful voice and was a perfect candidate for performing this song in honor of Parton. However, she had reservations about doing it, as she felt only Parton or Houston could do the song justice.
“I was like, ‘Everyone can suck it,'” Clarkson shared. “No one wants to sing that song. You either have to be Whitney Houston or Dolly Parton to sing that song.”
Clarkson isn’t the only artist who performed the song after getting divorced
Kelly Clarkson isn’t the first person to sing Dolly Parton’s classic song after ending a marriage. According to Parton, Priscilla Presley told her that Elvis Presley sang “I Will Always Love You” for her after they divorced. Presley wanted to record a cover of the song, but Parton turned him down after his manager demanded too much of the publishing rights.
“Priscilla told me later that he sang that song to her when they were coming down the steps of the courthouse after they divorced,” Parton said in Letter to My Younger Self. “That really touched me.”
The song is more applicable to a break-up as the lyrics are about a bittersweet end to a relationship between people who still love each other. Parton wrote the song for Porter Wagoner. She appeared with him on The Porter Wagoner Show for seven years but knew it was time for her to leave. She wrote “I Will Always Love You” for him and the pair shared an emotional moment before she left.
“It’s saying, ‘Just because I’m going don’t mean I won’t love you. I appreciate you, and I hope you do great, and I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I’m out of here,'” Parton told CMT. “[That’s] basically what I was saying. And I took it in the next morning. I said, ‘Sit down, Porter. I’ve written this song, and I want you to hear it.’ So I did sing it. And he was crying. He said, ‘That’s the prettiest song I ever heard. And you can go, providing I get to produce that record.’ And he did, and the rest is history.”
