Kelly Clarkson is all about sharing her singing competition wisdom.
Kelly Clarkson is all about sharing her singing competition wisdom.
The 36-year-old singer was victorious for the second season in a row on The Voice when her contestant, Chevel Shepherd, took home the season 15 win on Tuesday night. Of course, Clarkson is no stranger herself to winning a huge singing competition, given that she shot to fame as the first American Idol champ back in 2002.
The duo spoke to reporters backstage after their big win, where Clarkson shared how she's applying her own knowledge when guiding 16-year-old Shepherd.
"First of all, I want to make sure that it's exactly her sound," Clarkson said of hooking up Shepherd with a team of writers for her first song. "I know she loves Loretta [Lynn] and Dolly [Parton] and she loves that old school. And there's totally a way we can make her sound work nowadays. I want to thank Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, all the people bringing back that old vibe of country music, enabling us to do that ... but I just want to make sure she makes the record she wants to make before she goes out on the road, you know?"
Clarkson famously struggled with RCA Records head and music mogul Clive Davis after her Idol win, when they disagreed over the direction of her music.
"You want to make sure your style is you, and I understand that more than anyone," Clarkson noted. "I had to fight really hard after I won to make sure it was me. So, I'm going to do that for you."
The mother of two also joked about now becoming Shepherd's momager.
"My team calls me that by the way," she said. "They never did that with [season 14 winner] Brynn [Cartelli] but with her, they're like, 'You need to calm down. You're, like, singing words and doing that,' and I'm like, 'I think I am a momager.'"
Clarkson later admitted to possibly texting Shepherd too much.
"I always look at my husband and I'm like, 'Is this too much? Is this? This is long,'" she shared. "I just want to .... make sure the whole time she's having fun. Like, even at 36 years old, it is so hard sometimes, not just in this industry -- in any industry -- to just have fun at what you're doing and who you're working with."
Though Clarkson has nothing to worry about on Shepherd's end.
"I love it," Shepherd said of the GRAMMY-winning singer's text messages. "I'm like, 'Oh, mom, Kelly texted me.'"
ET spoke to Shepherd on Monday, when she explained why it was so easy to be herself around Clarkson. Watch below:
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