Kelly Clarkson is no stranger to speaking out, and she has been honest about a variety of topics, such as her career, her body and her divorce. She is not one to hold back. However, there are certainly times when she may have gone a bit too far with being honest. And her latest American Idol confession might be one of those times.
As the first-ever winner of American Idol, Clarkson's experience on the series was a tad different from most. While she’s now one of the most famous Idol contestants, it took a long time for that to happen, especially since she wasn’t even sure what she was getting herself into when she auditioned for the show.
While appearing on the podcast Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce, the singer looked back at that first season and how truly different it was. She admitted her real reason for auditioning and revealed that she didn't even know she was on a TV show at first, saying:
For me, it’s different. For all of us, in that first season, we literally didn’t… I didn’t even know it was a TV show until my third audition. Like, we were literally trying to pay our bills, y’all. Just to be, ‘Oh, this might work. I might meet someone’ or whatever. Nobody knew it was gonna amount to anything, you know?
It's shocking to think she didn't realize she was on TV at first because these days, American Idol auditions are well-known for being artists' first on-screen introduction.
However, I can see where she's coming from, and I totally get why she went on the show in the first place, as she explained:
There were already other shows like Pop Stars like all those other shows out or whatever. So nobody knew. I think for me, we were literally like kids. Nineteen years old, just trying to pay my electric bill, y’all, and afford the deductible on my car that was bashed in that I couldn’t afford. It was a different thing. I don’t look at it like how everybody perceives it.
She's right, they were so young and so was American Idol, so it makes sense that she didn't know what she was getting into. Plus, Clarkson joked that the reason it was so easy to win in early seasons was because not as many people were watching it. Of course, she wound up being one of, if not the, best vocalist to come out of American Idol.
It's unknown how much contestants made in the show’s early days, however, we know they were paid enough for Clarkson to cover her bills. However, as of 2016, American Idol contestants were paid anywhere between $910 and $1,571 per episode, depending on the length of the show. That has likely changed as the years have gone by and the series switched from Fox to ABC.
Meanwhile, American Idol is continuing to find new aspiring singers on the 2025 TV schedule, with fellow former contestant Carrie Underwood is now judging. Her first season as a judge has been a fun one already, especially since she certainly knows what it’s like to be on the other side of the table. Whether Clarkson could become a judge in the future is unknown, but she’s been a coach on The Voice before, so at least she’s had the chance to advise other aspiring singers.
It is hard to imagine how things would have been if Kelly Clarkson hadn’t needed to pay the bills and hadn’t ended up auditioning for American Idol. It could have set off a whole butterfly effect and changed quite a lot, but luckily, fans don’t have to wonder.
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