The singer shared what tricks are up her sleeve for 'The Voice' and her new album, 'Meaning of Life.'
Kelly Clarkson is ready to shake things up on The Voice.
ET spoke with Clarkson backstage at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles during her Meaning of Life album release party on Friday -- airing Monday on ET -- where she talked about her experience so far on the hit NBC show.
"I got to steal," Clarkson told ET's Kevin Frazier about fighting for the most promising contestants during the blind auditions of The Voice.
Clarkson joins fellow coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Alicia Keys on the singing competition next year, where she picked up some strategy from her fellow coaches.
"It was surprising just seeing who all people would pick in the blind auditions," she said. "Literally, it is hard to get people sometimes because they are so set on, like, 'No, indie goes to Adam and country goes to Blake.'"
"But I will say Alicia and I, especially Alicia, did really well stealing from them," she added.
The 35-year-old also weighed in on the new American Idol judges line up, which now officially includes Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
"I think it's going to be fun and they're all so different which I love," she said. "I've met all of them ... especially Luke, I know more than the others. Sweetheart. [He] loves people and music. Just an infectious kind of person in a great way."
Of course, Clarkson has come a long way since her own Idol days. She couldn't be more pleased with her eighth studio album, Meaning of Life, a record she feels is truly all her own.
"This is the album I've wanted since I first fell in love with music," Clarkson said. "I love so many different genres of music, but two genres that I appealed to right off the bat were R&B kind of soulful pop and country. It was always the soulful side of country, and the most soulful side of the pop element. I just love anything that just feels like real and honest."
The "Independent Woman" singer wasn't afraid to share her rougher edges on the album either, especially when it came to raw vocals.
"I wanted that," she stressed. "I've always loved that part of my voice, and people always make it sound so formulaic and pop that they take it out and I'm like, 'No, no, no -- leave the pitchy thing there and leave the build like that. I want all that. I think it's life. And it's the name of the album so you have to have that. It would be weird if it was formulaic."
She also got to showcase more of her Southern roots, especially on one of her favorite songs,"Whole Lotta Woman," where she describes herself as a "warm biscuit" -- which she jokes is "the greatest thing ever with some honey."
"'Whole Lotta Woman' is one of my favorites because of not only all the Southern references, but also the shout out to Texas and Tennessee, but it's also just about, it's OK," she explained. "It's OK to be a whole lot of anything. You be you, and if somebody can't handle that, that's all right. You be you, and you'll find someone that's going to love that and don't change yourself."
Clarkson's Meaning of Life is available now. And tune in to ET on Monday for more from the singer on how she keeps the passion alive in her marriage to husband Brandon Blackstock.
