Kelly Clarkson Leans Into the Disco Rhythm of Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Feather’

Kelly Clarkson put her own spin on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Feather” as part of The Kelly Clarkson Show’s “Kellyoke” segment. The backup singers of the musical ensemble Clarkson has affectionally dubbed My Band Y’all sing the tune’s “do-doo, do-doo” intro as the camera pans to show the TV host singing, “I’m your dream come true/When it’s on a platter for you.”

Her band (y’all) keeps the four-on-the-floor thump going throughout the two-minute segment, and Clarkson and the musicians do a great job of leaning into the “live” aspect of the performance. The guitars and bass bounce along to the beat as Clarkson digs deep in her lungs for the guttural notes of the pre-chorus and the lightness of the chorus. “I’m like a feather, yeah,” she sings, swaying to the beat.

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Carpenter released the music video for “Feather” on Halloween, and the mood wasn’t so light (even if the music was) since she set it at a funeral (complete with a pink hearse.) But the violence is all comic in nature. Nevertheless, the Diocese of Brooklyn released a statement saying it was “appalled” by the “violent and sexually provocative” nature of the clip. It also accused Carpenter of not following protocol for filming on church property.

“We got approval in advance,” Carpenter told Variety. “And Jesus was a carpenter.”

The song comes off Carpenter’s Emails I Can’t Send Fwd album, a deluxe reissue of Emails I Can’t Send. She told Teen Vogue in 2021, ahead of the original album’s release, that the sentiment of the title — looking at emails where she was freer with her thoughts than usual — inspired the direction of the album. “A lot of it came from the humor side of things,” she said. “I would be reading it and being like, ‘Oh my god, that’s so terrible, how did I say that?’ Then it would turn into a song. Most of the songs that happened were me going like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s terrible. I can’t say that,’ and then I say it, but for three minutes.”

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