The next music big name in music is … River Rose? Maybe, but her mother, Kelly Clarkson, would be happy if she decided to become an astronaut instead.
Clarkson, 41, spoke about her 9-year-old possibly following in her footsteps while appearing on Today to promote the deluxe edition of her album, Chemistry. One of the bonus tracks, “You Don’t Make Me Cry,” features a 5-year-old River singing alongside her mother. When asked if Clarkson would push River to follow her musical ambitions, the American Idol winner was a bit cautious.
“I mean, I’m not going not push,” she admitted on Tuesday, September 26. “I’m not the parent — whatever you want to do, it’s hard for me to sit here and go, ‘Don’t do this because it’s a hard industry,’ because I’m in it.’ But, I do think kids that grow up in it, it’s hard for them not to be inspired by it or want to be a part of it. So I kind of understand it if they do.”
“But also,” she said, half-jokingly, “be a teacher, or a doctor, or anything else.”
Clarkson also shared how this duet came to be. “She’s 5 years old on this track – that’s how old this song is. I recorded it that long ago,” she said. After sitting on the song for so long, Clarkson and her producers found that it fit her Chemistry album.
“[River Rose] came into the studio and said, ‘Can I sing?’” explained Clarkson. “And so, my producer just took my vocal off completely and just let her sing on the track. It’s so cute. She calls it ‘her song,’ by the way. ‘Can you play my song?’ Even my son [Remington] says, ‘Can you play River’s song?’”
Both River Rose and Remington, 7, joined their mother on stage on August 18, when the daytime talk show host and music powerhouse played Las Vegas. Remy joined his mother for “Whole Lotta Woman,” while River came out to sing “Heartbreak Song” along with Clarkson. “Nothing will ever be as cool and amazing as these two little humans,” wrote Clarkson when sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of her kids before the Vegas show. “[They] will always have my whole heart.”
Clarkson’s Chemistry is her first album since her June 2020 divorce from Brandon Blackstock, whom she married in 2013 after two years of dating. The divorce was finalized after a long and messy court battle over finances and custody of their two kids. Clarkson agreed to pay her former husband over $45k a month until their children “reach the age of eighteen.” She will also pay a monthly spousal support payment of $115k until January 2024.
“This album is definitely the arc of an entire relationship,” Clarkson said when first announcing Chemistry in March. “A whole relationship shouldn’t be brought down to just one thing. So there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly kind of thing going on in it.”
