The latest Songs & Stories episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show will be a memorable one for fans.
Sarah McLachlan will open up to Kelly Clarkson about her life and career on the show’s Tuesday, October 7, episode, as well as perform some of the pair’s most beloved hits. “It’s beautiful. Their voices together are like butter,” executive producer and showrunner Alex Duda shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published on Tuesday.
“[McLachlan] sings some of this [sic] hits and some ones that [Clarkson] loves,” Duda continued. “Kelly loves the song ‘I Love You’ and she asks to do that. ‘Angel.’ All the big hits. But it’s also about what is the story behind each of the songs, which I find really interesting.”
The Kelly Clarkson Show has aired several Songs & Stories episodes over the years, featuring Clarkson sitting down with music’s biggest names to share, as the title suggests, stories and song covers. Past guests have included P!nk, Miranda Lambert, Babyface, Garth Brooks, and Alanis Morissette.
The show transformed the episode format into four primetime specials earlier this year, with each episode featuring discussions between Clarkson and musicians such as Gloria Estefan, the Jonas Brothers, Teddy Swims, and Lizzo.
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For the show’s music director, Jason Halbert, the show’s Songs & Stories episodes have become some of the band’s favorites. “I think that’s our new favorite thing that we get to do because, you know, we’re selfish — we’re musicians,” he told EW. “And so to be able to have a whole episode dedicated to music has been so much fun for us.”
Halbert went on to share that the show’s musical guests collaborate with Clarkson on what songs to perform. “Of course, we want some hits and then whatever they’re excited about doing,” he said. “The artist always submits us a list, and then Kelly weighs in. Sarah McLachlan’s a great example — she has so many hits to choose from.”
Noting that Clarkson requested to do McLachlan’s 1997 track “ I Love You,” Halbert continued, “It’s a collaborative thing, but it’s 90 percent the artist that’s coming in and Kelly weighing in on something she wants to do.”
In another interview with EW last month, Halbert teased what songs fans can expect to see Clarkson cover during this season’s “Kellyoke” segments. “There’s one song I’m really excited about called ‘Carry It Well’ [by] Sam Fischer,” he told the outlet. “I hadn’t heard the song before, but I think it’s gonna be a very impactful moment. We have another Whitney [Houston] coming up. [It’s] always great to hear Kelly cover Whitney. And I think we’re doing Queen for the first time ever. I don’t think we’ve done another Queen song, so that’s gonna be fun.”
Halbert noted it’s “hard to find [songs] that haven’t been covered by so many other artists,” adding, “We either spotlight a new artist or, if we’re gonna do a huge hit, we try to make sure that we’re adding something to it.”
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