On Thursday's (Jan. 25) episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show," the show's host and namesake covered another "The Voice" coaching alum in a Kelly-oke segment. Specifically, Clarkson sang Niall Horan's "Heaven" while backed by house musicians My Band Y'all.
While wearing a notably awesome Spice Girls t-shirt, Clarkson sang the opening track from Horan's 2023 album The Show. Clarkson's voice plus the live accompaniment lent the song more of a throwback pop-rock feel.
Afterwards, Clarkson mentioned that Horan had played her a snippet of the then-unreleased song while they both worked on "The Voice" together. Horan and Clarkson's stints on the show overlapped during Season 23.
During an early 2023 appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Horan explained that he came up with the song's concept at 1 a.m. while on a retreat with his collaborators at the Joshua Tree National Park in California.
"There's so much pressure for people to hit certain milestones by a certain age— you get married at this age, buy a house at that age, have kids at some other age," Horan told Rolling Stone regarding the song's meaning. "But I've never conformed to those ideas, and so I wanted to write about how we all should just focus on enjoying our lives and doing what feels right, instead of worrying about what might be expected of us."
During his two-season run on "The Voice," Horan matched some of Clarkson's accomplishments as a coach. Team Niall contestants won in both instances— Gina Miles in Season 23 and Huntley in Season 24. With the repeat, Horan joined Clarkson and Blake Shelton as the only coaches to win "The Voice" in consecutive seasons.
The only nine-time winner as a coach, Shelton coached three consecutive winners early in the series' run: Jermaine Paul (Season 2), Cassadee Pope (Season 3) and Danielle Bradbury (Season 4). Horan won't return as a coach when Season 25 premieres on Feb. 26, so Shelton's seemingly untouchable record is safe for the time being.
Horan joins Clarkson as the only judges to win back-to-back seasons in their first two tries. Clarkson, too, won her debut season (Season 14) with Brynn Cartelli. Team Kelly defended its championship when the voting public chose Chevel Shepherd as Season 15's champion. Clarkson went on to coach two more champs before departing the series after Season 23.
