Kelly Clarkson announces new project away from talk show

Kelly Clarkson will help the Today Show celebrate 30 years of summer concerts by kicking off the 2025 summer series.

Announced on the same day as the singer dropped new music, NBC confirmed that Kelly will be the first performer at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City on May 6. Blake Shelton and the Zak Brown Band are among others to perform in May, while Cynthia Erivo and Jonas Brothers will also perform.

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Kelly's inclusion in the line up comes as she anNounced brand new music which was released on May 2.

"What’s up?! My new song “Where Have You Been” is out at midnight AND my new video is premiering tomorrow on The Kelly Clarkson Show!! Check your local listings for times," she shared with fans hours earlier.

The rock ballad sees the mom-of-two sing about loving her freedom but "trading some for a kiss".

"I felt it from the moment you walked in the room," she sings,"Nothing could keep my eyes from driftin' over to you / When it came to the wild love, I wondered what it meant / And then you show up making me beliеve again," she sings.

"Where Have You Been" is Kelly's first original release since 2023, when she released her milestone tenth studio album Chemistry.

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In the two years since Kelly has only released Christmas music including the new song "You for Christmas" last November with a reissue of her holiday album.

Kelly told fans on her SiriusXM channel The Kelly Clarkson Connection that the inspiration for the song was a scene in Only Murders in the Building when Martin Short's character asks Meryl Streep’s character: "Where have you been?"

"He’s in awe and I was like, 'Has anyone written a song?' Because the song is happy. It’s like you found something that you thought was almost basically a unicorn and did not exist," she said.

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It's also the first music that Kelly will release independently through her very own label which she quietly formed many years ago.

The 2023 album Chemistry chronicled the ups and downs of a relationship, from the first days of love to feelings of guilt, anger and separation.It was inspired by her own romance and subsequent divorce from now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock.

Following their divorce, Kelly moved to New York City where she lives with the couple's two children, River Rose, ten, and Remington "Remy" Alexander, eight, of whom she has full custody.