When a star writes an autobiographical song, there’s often a risk that some of the lyrics may become awkward when their life circumstances change.
That’s what happened to Kelly Clarkson in the wake of her divorce from Brandon Blackstock, which became final in 2022, according to Today.
Among other things, the split necessitated some changes in the lyrics to Clarkson’s song “Piece by Piece.”
The 2015 version of the song is a rather accusatory message to the star’s father, who walked out on the family when she was a little girl. It credited Blackstock with helping her recover from the trauma of abandonment.
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When it was first recorded, the song lyrics said:
“Piece by piece, he collected me up / Off the ground, where you abandoned things, yeah / Piece by piece, he filled the holes that you burned in me / At 6 years old and you know.”
Now that she and Blackstock are no longer together, Clarkson has revised the lyrics to edit out the references to her former husband and give herself credit for her own healing.
She sang the revised version of the song Saturday in Las Vegas, Today reported.
“Piece by piece, I collected me up / Off the ground where you abandoned things, yeah / And piece by piece, I filled the holes that you burned in me at 6 years old.”
The song’s chorus also underwent some changes. Originally, it said:
“He never walks away / He never asks for money / He takes care of me / He loves me.”
But on Saturday, Clarkson sang: “I just walk away / When they ask for money / I take care of me / ’Cause I love me.”
In a conversation with fellow musician Garth Brooks two years ago on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” she remarked how her relationship with the song and its lyrics have evolved.
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“I wrote the song for, like, my daughter and my husband at the time,” she said.
“And little did I know it was only a piece of this puzzle — this full puzzle — ’cause like, now … I have this whole, full puzzle sitting in front of me. Well, what I think is — you never know.
“And, literally, there’s a lyric on my new album … and it’s like, ‘By the way, piece by piece, I found out my hero is me.’
“And not, like, in a negative sense … it’s almost too much to put on someone to do that for you. You know, you have to do that, like, kind of yourself, piece by piece. You have to get there yourself.
“But it’s so funny, ’cause … I’m the writer. And I was, like, I was a little off … but I got there.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.