During a lengthy interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Kelly Clarkson revealed that Chemistry (out June 23 via Atlantic Records) isn't the first breakup album themed around her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock 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)'."
Lowe's openness about mental health with his guests earned him praise from the New York Times as "pop's unofficial therapist." Not that Clarkson's held back before now about such issues while promoting Chemistry.
"I don't know how people get through anything like that because I'm not going to say I did it gracefully," Clarkson said of her divorce. "Behind closed doors by myself, it was not," she admitted, adding, "Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle it well."
Clarkson sprinkled in some helpful advice from her therapist — namely the line "you don't have to attend every argument you're invited to." She also got candid about how her children — 9-year-old River and 7-year-old Remington — impacted her decision to pursue a divorce.
"We have two little kids watching us," Clarkson said. "And you don't want to set that example for, this is what they're going to set the bar for. I don't want my kids to be in this relationship. I want them to aim higher."
"At the end of the day, we're all fine. We're doing fine," Clarkson shared. "Everybody's finding their own lane and we're figuring it out and it's going to be fine."
