Kelly Clarkson’s 20 Best Kellyoke Covers

Ariana Grande’s  “7 Rings” is a playful trap-pop-meets-R&B ode to friendship, female empowerment, and the rush of buying yourself lavish gifts. Kelly Clarkson put her own sassy twist on the track. Backed by her band, Clarkson ditches the glossiness of the original, opting for a more straightforward R&B approach and leaning into her lower register. 

Both Florence Welch and Clarkson have towering voices, so it’s no surprise that one of the TV host’s best covers is a Florence + the Machine track. While the original version of “Free” is a euphoric rocker teeming with an anxious synth-rock backbeat that highlights Welch’s towering vocals, Clarkson’s rendition is slightly slower. Still, it allows her to toy with her vocal runs on the chorus — delivering more than one impressive whistle note.

Don’t let the pedal steel fool you: “Tennessee Whiskey” is arguably more of an R&B song than a country one. But that’s what makes it the ideal track for Clarkson to cover. While Chris Stapleton’s soulful lilt is more subdued, the talk show host leans into her falsetto for a gospel-tinged version of the country star’s track.  

With her cover of En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go (Love),” Clarkson makes a solid case for why she could have thrived in a Nineties R&B girl group. While the original track is stirring on its own, Clarkson brings a new level of theatricality to it, playing with her vocal texture and tone throughout the chorus with a flurry of high-pitched harmonies.

For Clarkson’s take on Coldplay’s 2000 classic “Yellow,” she ditches the more delicate elements of the song and goes full-throttle, turning it into a rock opus. It’s the singer’s belt — her vocal one, not her beloved accessory — on the chorus that creates an explosive anthem that stands on its own.

“Mr. Brightside” is the go-to karaoke song for a generation, so it’s no surprise that Clarkson decided to put her spin on The Killers’ classic. Though she keeps some of the angsty alternative elements of the track — particularly during the chorus — Clarkson channels the softer flourishes of her pop-punk-tinged hit “Since U Been Gone” for her take.

The 2009 electro-pop smash “Bulletproof” has lived on as an infectious dancefloor favorite that has been given the cover treatment by many different artists. But Clarkson’s backing band puts  a funky twist to the freewheeling melody and allows her to add some attitude to the vocals. The result?  A brassy number exploding with confidence.

While many of Paramore’s earlier numbers were pop-punk driven, “The Only Exception” was a stark departure — a stripped-back, soulful ballad about the double-edged sword of love. With only the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar, Clarkson doesn’t diverge much from the simplicity of the original’s melody. However, she opens the song with a syrupy lilt and doesn’t hold back on belting her way through the chorus.

When Lady Gaga released “Bad Romance,” she didn’t shy away from bringing the drama. Clarkson didn’t either when she put her own spin on the 2008 pop classic. Her backing band turns the track into a funk-tinged number, where Clarkson delivers the “love, love, love” line with a swaggery alto and uses Gaga’s blueprint to go off-script with her own towering vocal runs.

There are some Clarkson covers that are arguably as good — if not better than — the originals. The talk show host’s take on “I Wanna Get Better,” Bleachers Eighties-tinged self-improvement anthem, is one of them. On it, Clarkson turns Jack Antonoff’s indie hit into a sunny, reggae-tinged pop anthem primed for radio.

It’s no small feat to cover a Whitney Houston song, but Clarkson manages to take one on and turn it into something that completely stands on its own. While the original is flanked by its thumping dance-pop beat and Houston’s jazzy rock vocals, the pop star’s spin on the song adds a metal edge to the chorus against a backdrop of brash guitar riffs.

Miley Cyrus’s version of “Jaded” is a swaggery pop ballad, but Clarkson tones her interpretation down quite a bit without forfeiting the original’s kiss-off attitude.Kelly turns the track into a softer R&B number and adds an array of chilling key changes that make it a showstopper.

Taylor Swift’s 1989 cut “Clean” is a powerful, synth-folk song steeped in heartbreak, and Clarkson maintains that mood. Still, she makes it uniquely her own. Clarkson strips away the synth and gravitates toward a slight country twang as she embraces her lower register in a romanticized rendition of the track.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” was already an energetic pastiche of groovy retro-funk with an undeniably catchy chorus. With Clarkson at the helm, the song gains a new layer of raw vocal sass and a bouncier backdrop that gives the original a run for its money.

Clarkson’s take on “Seven Nation Army” is once again proof that she’d have no regrets if she went full-steam ahead with a rock record. While the White Stripes’ original is a tension-building creeper steeped in gritty guitar work, Clarkson’s is slightly more polished thanks to her backing band. But her sultrier twist on the vocals, delivered with some added punk flair, turned her talk show’s set into a DIY basement show.

Clarkson took covering Stevie Nicks so seriously, she put on her best choker and flowy top for her performance of “Edge of Seventeen.” Like the original, Clarkson’s rendition features a signature chugging guitar and largely embraces Nicks’ signature smoky tone. However, Clarkson’s vocals can rarely be contained as her throbbing vibrato and whistle notes bring the Bella Donna classic to a whole new dimension.

Bloc Party’s bombastic indie classic “Like Eating Glass” isn’t the type of track that one would associate with belting. But Clarkson’s knack for breaking down and rebuilding songs with her protean vocals turns the churning dance-rock song into a soaring rock anthem — and its own track altogether.

While the pedal steel -flanked “My Love Mine All Mine” has the intimacy of a lullaby, carried by Mitski’s hushed lilt, Clarkson approaches the track from a place of longing. Like Mitski, Clarkson initially maintains a steady tone, with some weightier vocal work; however, toward its dramatic conclusion, Kerlly the track into an impassioned plea, swelling with stunning shouts of desperation. It’s an unexpected twist that leaves listeners with chills. 

The anchor of Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” is the second half of the track and its transition into an explosive rock melody, and Clarkson leans into that, channeling her raw angst into the back section of the song over the bombastic guitar and drum melody that has been exponentially dialed up. You can feel Clarkson seething during her perfoemance, and it’s what turns the song into a rock opera of her own making.

Picking the number one Kellyoke cover wasn’t easy but her take on “Fake Plastic Trees” is so effortlessly stunning it takes the prize. While still capturing the near-holiness of the Radiohead classic, she brings her own pop sensibility to the track, skillfully adding drama to the song’s signature crescendo with her crystalline vocal runs. Nothing about the cover is overdone. Clarkson preserves the original tone of “Fake Plastic Trees,” while giving it even more dimension as the song builds.