Kelly Clarkson Shares How an Iconic Garth Brooks Song Helped Her Through Divorce

From House Beautiful

Music can be the ultimate companion in trying times, especially for singer-songwriters themselves. And for Kelly Clarkson, wise lyrics from Garth Brooks’ “The Dance” have helped her navigate the struggle of divorce.

In June, Clarkson filed for divorce from her estranged husband and former manager Brandon Blackstock citing “irreconcilable differences.” Since then, she’s gained primary custody of their two children— 5-year-old River and 4-year-old Remington—and claimed that Blackstock’s management services defrauded her out of millions of dollars. Needless to say she’s going through a lot right now, and Brooks—who has experienced divorce himself—is helping her see the silver lining.

“I couldn’t quite nail down the feeling,” she told him during the Dec. 14 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show. “I was, like, well, you don’t want to crap on it. Like, 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. And so, 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.’”

“I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance” is a particularly poignant lyric that changed Clarkson’s perspective. The piece of wisdom inspired her so much, in fact, that she wrote her own song with a similar message, which she said will be on her next album.

She sang a bit of it for Brooks. “So, it’s not like your song, like a rip-off, but I literally wrote this whole thing like therapeutically for me. It’s actually on my next album and it’s the whole kind of come around, like the little tag part is like, ‘Even though my heart is broken, it was worth the dance, anyway,’” she vocalized. “I think what’s interesting about it is I sang [‘The Dance’] from childhood and it never hit me.” Until now.

Brooks nodded and affirmed her. “That’s a great song right there,” he said. “That’s the character of a great song.” He went on to strum the intro of the track, and as soon as he sang the first few lyrics, Clarkson covered her face and got emotional. “Oh, don’t do that!” Brooks exclaimed, halting his guitar. “I have to do it!” Clarkson explained. “Literally… I can’t believe my life.”

Later, they sang another Brooks classic together: “In Another’s Eyes.” Their entire visit was the emotional, vulnerable, and pure moment we needed. More Kelly and Garth interviews, please!

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