When it comes to how Kelly Clarkson came up with her new song, she’s giving fans the long and Martin Short of it.
Clarkson unveiled her new song, “Where Have You Been,” on May 1. Before she premiered it on her SiriusXM channel, The Kelly Clarkson Connection, the Grammy winner explained the track was actually inspired by Hulu’s hit show “Only Murders in the Building.”
“I wrote this song — I’ve rarely done something like this — but I was watching ‘Only Murders in the Building,’” she said.
“It’s Martin Short’s face. He says to Meryl Streep’s character in the show, ‘Where have you been?’ Like, he’s in awe. And I was like, ‘Has there been — has anyone written a song?’ Because the song is happy, because it’s like, you found something that you thought was almost basically a unicorn and did not exist.”
Clarkson’s “Only Murders in the Building” connection runs deeper than how the romance between Streep’s and Short’s characters manifested in this song, too.
While answering fan questions for her talk show in January, she said she would want to star in the comedy because she likes it so much, before saying she doesn’t think she has the chops to make it on the set.
“But I’ve seen the level in that show — I am not a walk-on, so I actually take that back,” she laughed.
In June 2023, Clarkson and one of the show’s other stars, Steve Martin, teamed up on her song “I Hate Love,” from her album “Chemistry.” Martin played banjo on the track.
“I’m a huge Steve Martin fan because I’m alive and breathing,” she said during a Los Angeles concert. “I had this crazy idea, I was telling Jesse Shatkin, my producer, I was like, ‘Do you think he’d play on it, because he’s like a b—– musician?’ And I really wanted banjo. He said yes!”
Interestingly, at that same show she mentioned how the song was partly inspired by the movie “It’s Complicated,” which, coincidentally, also stars Martin and Streep. She also said it’s more realistic than “The Notebook,” which she name-drops in the lyrics.
“I hate love/ And ‘The Notebook’ lied/ ‘It’s Complicated’ is more like what happens/ So you can keep Gosling and I’ll take Steve Martin/ I hate love/ And all its shine/ Not all that glitters is golden/ And sometimes love can leave you behind,” she sings.
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