Kelly Clarkson's New NYC Talk Show Set Finds Its Inspiration in Music

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Kelly Clarkson has been in the spotlight since winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, but the singer's star power has only been growing as a fan-favorite judge on The Voice, plus the release of many albums, and of course, the launch of her Emmy-Award winning talk show in 2019.

The Kelly Clarkson Show kicks off its fifth season in NYC with a new home in Studio 6A nestled in the historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Clarkson was no stranger to the talk show circuit in her years post-American Idol, even performing around 30 Rock several times during her career.

"To coming on singing my first single, "Miss Independent" there and then at 41 years old, coming back in this building and having my own successful TV show and being able to use this studio, it was a very cool, full circle moment," Clarkson tells The Spruce.

Though her talk show is not performed live, Clarkson's team is shooting it as if it were this season, giving the show a fresh feeling fit for its new location and its 1.3 million daily viewers.

"I'm excited that we're playing off the 30 Rock kind of live element of that whole building," Clarkson says. "I love any kind of live atmosphere. It makes me just perform differently and be in the conversation differently."

This year, viewers can expect lots of music and many special guests, especially some familiar faces from around 30 Rock in the first week of the show.

I love any kind of live atmosphere. It makes me just perform differently and be in the conversation differently.

"When you're a talk show in season five, it's harder," says showrunner and executive producer Alex Duda. "You don't always have a new story to tell. Well, we just did the surprise cross-country move. We've got a lot to say. The energy of the city is going to be infused in the show in a new way."

Working with award-winning set designer James Pearse Connelly, Clarkson wanted a new set that reflected NYC and had plenty of locations for Kellyokes.

"I did not think I was going to like a set better than I liked the LA one," Clarkson says. "But man, you walk in [the NYC set], and it's the level of intimacy and energy, it has a certain fire to it. It feels more like a cool vibe, like a musician's hang."

Connelly describes the new set as "three words put into a blender and made into this power smoothie of a design: laughter, music, and texture."

Anchored by dark wood accents, plenty of vinyls, layered rugs, and luxe fabrics, the set feels equal parts like Clarkson's living room and a lounge, or as Clarkson calls it, "like MTV Unplugged in a daytime setting."

Though the NYC studio is technically a little smaller than the LA set, the audience is the biggest it's ever been, with 200 people now able to see the show.

"The biggest happy accident in this case was the audience experience," Connelly explains. "We needed to expand our capacity of audience while still giving a premium and intimate relationship to the show. By creating custom benches with built-in performance lighting, along with an elevated balcony, I was able to get the audience close to the action and put them right in the middle of the show."

The NYC set also has a permanent spot for Kelly's band, Y'all, led by Jason Halbert. When the show was in LA, the band left the set during interviews; now, they're part of the whole show.

"In LA, we kind of felt isolated," Halbert says. "We were the only band in daytime television, the only band working at Universal Studios, and now we're surrounded by so much great music. We have The Roots right across the hallway, Seth Meyers' band, SNL, and so in our minds, we're going to all become best friends and have this sense of camaraderie."

Music is at the forefront of the set, inspired by recording studios; there's even a nook in the corner of the stage with only a baby grand piano and room for Halbert and Clarkson to perform.

It feels more like a cool vibe, like a musician's hang.

"My favorite thing is just me and a piano," Clarkson says. "I just love that kind of performance. There's so much space to breathe in that environment."

Clarkson's design style has evolved over the years, preferring all dark colors in her twenties, and now leaning toward one deep shade, lots of light accents, and a simple pop of color to round it out, even for her office.

"[Connelly] was like, 'I think I'm going to put in some gray curtains,' and I was like, 'Oh my God, are they dark? Don't do it,'" Clarkson laughs. "I'm so affected emotionally by aesthetics. That's like the annoying creative person in me. In this office space, it was nice just to keep it light and you walk in and you feel like you can breathe."

That design philosophy carries over into her home design aesthetic too.

"Whenever I was younger, I would go overboard with color," Clarkson says. "I don't like that anymore. It's like singers. Don't riff too much, you know what I'm saying? Save it for the little pockets."

To glimpse the full new set, tune into The Kelly Clarkson Show, in syndication on over 200 stations across the country. Check your local listings.

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Read the original article on The Spruce.