Kelly Clarkson Spreads Her Wings, Launches Her Own Record Label

Kelly Clarkson has officially taken control of her music career. During the January 22 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the 42-year-old pop sensation revealed to guest Keke Palmer that she’s started her own record label — a major milestone in her already iconic journey. 

In a conversation about Palmer’s music group DivaGurl and her own experience running a label for the past six or seven years, Kelly shared her exciting leap into independence. “I’m so much older than you…and it’s my first time in my career and I just now started my own label and I’m putting out my own stuff,” she stated.

She went on to explain how liberating it feels to have full creative control: “And I’ve had some good teams, like, to work with, but there is nothing like being that 10-year-old again and being excited and nobody saying ‘Oh, you should do this’ and ‘You should do this.'”

Keke, 31, nodded in understanding and pointed out the challenges. “People don’t know how hard it is,” she said. 

Kelly enthusiastically agreed, recounting her own learning curve: “Girl, I’m finding out. I’m putting together a music video, and I’m like, ‘Wait, I forgot to do what?’”

For Kelly, this move comes with a sense of fulfillment. “I feel like I’ve earned it, so I’m excited. I think I’ve earned the moment,” she said, beaming with pride. 

The Since U Been Gone hitmaker first stole America’s heart as the winner of American Idol in 2002. She signed with RCA shortly after and released a string of successful albums, including Breakaway and Piece by Piece. In 2016, she parted ways with RCA and joined Atlantic Records, where she continued to shine with albums like Meaning of Life and her 2023 release, Chemistry.

Her latest project, Chemistry, delved into the highs and lows of relationships, inspired by her past marriage to Brandon Blackstock. Kelly candidly discussed the album’s title in May 2023, describing the powerful, and sometimes toxic, nature of chemistry.

“I never really connected before my ex-husband,” she admitted. “And I never connected with anybody like that. I’d never felt that. That kind of chemical … that level of just chemical reaction, I just never felt that and I remembered the first time we even met, I was like, ‘Woah.’ I just felt something.”

Kelly’s pivot to independence signals a new chapter, one where she calls all the shots.