Entertainment Music Kelly Clarkson Performs Emotionally Charged Cover of Taylor Swift's 'Clean' for Kellyoke — Watch! Clarkson's performance of the 1989 track arrives days before the release of her new singles, "Me" and "Mine" By Jack Irvin Jack Irvin Jack Irvin has over five years of experience working in digital journalism, and he’s worked at PEOPLE since 2022. Jack started in the industry with internships at Rolling Stone and Entertainment Tonight, and he worked as a freelance writer for publications including Bustle, MTV News, Shondaland, L’Officiel USA, Ladygunn, Flood and PopCrush before joining PEOPLE. In his current role, Jack covers daily music news and has interviewed both up-and-coming and established artists including Dolly Parton, Michelle Branch, Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Normani, Carly Rae Jepsen and Coco Jones. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 12, 2023 02:15PM EDT Kelly Clarkson is getting into her Taylor Swift feels as she prepares to release new music. On Wednesday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the Grammy winner performed a touching cover of Swift's 1989 track "Clean" for the daily Kellyoke segment that opens the NBC program. "Rain came pouring down / When I was drowning, that's when I could finally breathe / And by morning / Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean," crooned Clarkson, 40, as she delivered a powerful rendition of the 2014 song. For the performance, the American Idol winner sported a long black dress with matching boots and a chunky belt with her hair in a simple ponytail. Kelly Clarkson Teases 'Me' Lyrics That Reference 2015 Love Song Written About Ex Brandon Blackstock Kelly Clarkson. The Kelly Clarkson Show/Youtube "Clean" was released as the final track on the standard edition of 1989 and co-written by Swift with Imogen Heap. Clarkson is currently gearing up to release two new singles — "Me" and "Mine" — on Friday ahead of her upcoming album Chemistry, which she's described as chronicling "the arc of an entire relationship" — "the good, the bad, the ugly." Last week, she teased "Me" on Instagram — including a lyric that seems to directly respond to her 2015 love song "Piece by Piece," written about ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. After nearly seven years of marriage, the pair divorced in 2020. "I don't need somebody to hold me / Don't need somebody to love me / Don't need somebody to pick these pieces up," sang Clarkson in the a cappella clip. "I put together my broken / Let go of the pain I've been holdin' / Don't need to need somebody / When I got me." Kelly Clarkson. Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank Kelly Clarkson Announces 'Intimate' Las Vegas Residency Tied to New 'Chemistry' Album: 'So Excited' The confident lyrics appear to call back to the chorus of "Piece by Piece," a song that praised then-husband Blackstock, 46, for providing affection and care to Clarkson and their children that the "Walk Away" performer didn't receive from her own father. "Piece by piece, he collected me / Up off the ground where you abandoned things / Piece by piece, he filled the holes / That you burned in me at 6 years old," she sings on the 2015 song, referencing the age she was when her own parents got divorced. She also teased "Mine" on Instagram last week, revealing the lyrics: "Someone's gonna show you how a heart can be used / Like you used mine."