When Kelly Clarkson stopped by The Howard Stern Show to promote her new album Chemistry, the host couldn't help but tease Clarkson about a pair of high-profile bachelors.
Stern went for low-hanging fruit, asking Clarkson if she'd join the growing list of celebrities to date comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson. Clarkson toned down her riotous laughter long enough for a graceful response.
"Here's the thing: Pete is cute, and he's funny." she said. "I don't picture us dating, but people always give him such sh*t ... Pete Davidson, you are wonderful, but no, I am not looking."
Stern also suggested Clarkson's fellow high-profile divorcee, NFL great Tom Brady, as a potential partner. She offered another level-headed answer, stressing that she wouldn't want to follow in the footsteps of Brady's ex, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, while doubling down on her disinterest in dating.
"I think I'm over the trauma [of the divorce], I just really enjoy me right now," she said. "I just don't want to [pursue a relationship] right now. It just seems, like, exhausting."
It was among the lighter moments in an album promotion cycle that's focused heavily on Clarkson's divorce.
During a lengthy interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Clarkson revealed that Chemistry isn't the first breakup album themed around the end of her marriage and the give-and-take that comes with all sorts of relationships.
Songs in the same vein as "Red Flag Collector" and other selections from Chemistry can be heard in an unlikely place: 2021's When Christmas Comes Around.
"The Christmas record touches on it," Clarkson shared. "A lot of it is a breakup Christmas record. The saddest song I think I've ever written is on that record, 'Merry Christmas (to the One I Used to Know)'."
