Kelly Clarkson knows all too well that when it comes to entertaining the masses, Taylor Swift is in a class of her own.
She added, “Unless you’re Taylor Swift, then you can do whatever the f*** you want. For the rest of us minions, [it doesn’t] work.”
Swift, 35, is, notably, a billionaire whose historic, three-hour Eras Tour broke all sorts of records when she traveled the globe from 2023 to 2024.
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“There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé,” Swift told TIME in a December 2023 profile, comparing Eras to Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour. “Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”
She added, “If we have to speak stereotypically about the feminine and the masculine, women have been fed the message that what we naturally gravitate toward … girlhood, feelings, love, breakups, analyzing those feelings, talking about them nonstop, glitter [and] sequins. We’ve been taught that those things are more frivolous than the things that stereotypically gendered men gravitate toward, right?”
Swift wrapped Eras in December 2024, shortly before Beyoncé, 43, concluded Renaissance. The former Destiny’s Child singer has since launched her Cowboy Carter Tour, which kicked off earlier this summer.
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As for Clarkson, she began her Studio Sessions residency in Las Vegas in July.
“This is a very different show that Caesars’ is letting us do,” she quipped on Friday. “They let us, kind of, do what we wanted, and this was my dream. I like getting all dolled up and I like the gowns, but I wanted y’all to be able to experience this with us.”
The first-ever American Idol champion decorated the Sin City stage like an informal jam session in a recording studio.
“All this stuff on the walls is from my [house] in Montana and my studio there,” she said. “I have a studio in New York, too. … This is all my art [hanging up].”
Friday’s show also featured an impromptu duet with Clarkson’s daughter, River Rose. (In addition to River, Clarkson shares son Remington with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.)
“Last night we had a very special guest, my daughter River Rose, joined us for Heartbeat Song 💗 It’s her favorite song,” Clarkson gushed via Instagram afterward.
