The singer told ET she's in the process of trying to figure out what she's 'willing to put out there.'
Kelly Clarkson is turning heartbreak into art.
While chatting with ET during a press junket for The Voice, the 38-year-old singer revealed she's written approximately 60 songs since filing for divorce from Brandon Blackstock last June. The two share two children together, daughter River Rose, 6, and son Remington Alexander, 4.
"I have this record that we're working on. It's really great and really honest," Clarkson shared. "There's just a lot of questions that I have to answer before releasing it for myself, you know? Whether that be business-wise or personally or whatever. Whatever happens though, it is such a gift. Like, I don't know how anybody, I'll just be real with you, goes through grief like divorce, any kind of grief, any kind of loss, without having an outlet like this."
"I have written like 60 songs, it is an insane amount of getting it out. I think that's a blessing in itself," she continued. "Anytime you go through some life, it's such an awesome thing to have that outlet, regardless of whether people hear it or not."
Clarkson added that anytime she writes something so personal, she has to ask herself, "What are you willing to put out there?"
"I hate that I had to go through 'Because of You' or 'Piece by Piece' [moments]. Certain songs that I've written certainly have shaped me, but have been really hard," she explained. "They're just difficult decisions to put those out because they're so personal. But the other side of you is like, 'Man, how many people have come up to me.' Like, 'You have no idea. I never wanted to talk about it, I never have told anyone this.'"
"Music has that way, even for me," she said. "I listen to other artists and music has a way of healing you."
Clarkson shared that fellow Voice coach John Legend's new music has helped her cope amid her divorce. She told ET his latest album, Bigger Love, was very therapeutic for her, as it came at a time when she was feeling hopeless.
"I literally was going through the worst moments of my emotional life. And his record, it's not like a Joni Mitchell [album], or Jagged Little Pill, it's the complete opposite of that. It's all about that kind of love that you find, that kind of connection you find, and it was so helpful for me," she admitted. "Just separately -- as a fan, not friend -- just to be in a place where you're hopeless and then to have a record like that, that's what i'm saying. Like him deciding to put all these songs out that might be personal, or essentially with he and [wife] Chrissy Teigen."
"It's a really important thing that we remember we are a really important vessel for a lot of messages that people need to hear," she continued. "Because me hearing that during this time was like, 'OK, it's not hopeless. It's not over.' It was a very therapeutic record for me, which is so interesting, because I was feeling none of those emotions while listening to it. But the hope that's there is such a beautiful thing."
An all-new season of The Voice premieres Monday, March 1 on NBC. Hear more in the video below.
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