Kelly Clarkson recently opened up about how one of Garth Brooks' songs has helped her cope with her divorce! As Entertainment Tonight shares, Clarkson talked to Brooks about his song "The Dance" when he was the guest on Monday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, telling him the significance that it's had in her life.
Clarkson explains her struggle to process emotions
Clarkson first touched on the "shame and guilt" she'd felt as a result of her divorce, saying she'd tried to make sense of her complicated emotions. "I couldn't quite nail down the feeling," she explained. "You don't want to crap on it. You don't want to say, 'That didn't count or matter,' but you don't know what to put in it because it didn't work out how you wanted."
However, hearing "The Dance" while going through it all marked a key turning point for Clarkson. While the singer said she's known the song for her "entire life," she shared that the lyrics resonated with her now more than ever! "Anyway, I kid you not, I was listening to my playlist and "The Dance" came on and I was like, 'No, that's the thing. That's it!'"
Clarkson says hearing "The Dance" had her "literally bawling"
Clarkson went on to explain why the song's message really hit home for her in that moment. "I sang that song from childhood and it never hit me. [When] it hit me I was literally bawling," she said. "I was like, 'It's not so bad. It was worth it.' Because it is true. I think a lot of people who go through such a devastating [experience], there's a lot of grief with it, a lot of loss, and a lot of change, especially with kids."
"I was listening in my room and just [sobbing] when I was listening to 'The Dance'... It was the whole point. I got the point," the singer and talk show host continued. "I think sometimes that's so crazy. You don't know that's gonna happen. You've known this song your entire life and you freak out when it actually is a direct impact."
Clarkson shares she wrote a reference to Brooks' song into her own
Clarkson filed for divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock over the summer, with issues between the two said to have grown over quarantine. And while they reportedly had issues co-parenting, Clarkson was recently awarded primary physical custody of their two children, according to documents from a Los Angeles judge!
She also revealed that "The Dance" has inspired her to write a song of her own about the divorce. "It's not like your song, it's not a rip off," Clarkson told Brooks, "but I literally wrote this whole thing therapeutically for me, it's actually on my next album, the whole come around, the little tag part is, 'Even though my heart is broken / It was worth the dance anyway.'"