Kelly Clarkson Thanks Céline Dion for Praise as She Jokes It Offsets Her 'Bad'American IdolCover Due to Laryngitis

Mar. 15, 2025

Kelly Clarkson in October 2023; Céline Dion in February 2024.Photo:Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty

“Kelly, when I came back from the Olympics, I got to watch and listen toyour reactionto my performance on the Eiffel Tower,” Dion, 56, said in anInstagram Reelearlier in the week. “It was so sweet to hear you — your voice. Your voice was breaking and it touched me so tremendously. You were crying and then you made me start crying. What’s up with all this friggin' crying?”

“I just saw you singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and I’m crying again,” she continued. “You were absolutely incredible, fantastic. I loved it so much. I hope we can see each other in person soon, very soon. And I hope we’re not going to start crying. I love you so much.”

Clarkson, 42, responded on Oct. 8 to Dion and gave context for how important the feedback is to her.

“22 years ago onAmerican Idol,I got laryngitis. Everybody got sick one week because they worked us ragged,” Clarkson explained. “They had no idea the show was going to blow up.”

She continues, “The week that I had laryngitis… Ihad to sing Céline Dion’s ‘I Surrender All.‘I bawl that night because I’m just mortified that Céline Dion is going to see this performance. I could have cared less about votes at that point.”

Clarkson goes on to further describe the performance as “so bad because I was so sick.”

The talk show host and singer said that herKellyokeversion of “My Heart Will Go On” made things right over two decades after her first attempt at covering Dion, whom she said is one of her “main inspirations.” “I felt like I sang it alright, you know? I didn’t have laryngitis, I wasn’t sick, and I got to honor someone who is such a hero to me vocally.”

In the first season ofIdolfor Clarkson’s Top 4performance, she sang Dion’s “I Surrender” off the 2002 albumA New Day Has Come. JudgeSimon Cowellalluded to the cast-wide illness, commending Clarkson for singing in spite of “how stressed all of your vocals are this week.” He even says, “The fact that you can talk this week is a miracle.”

Cowell then goes on to tell Clarkson, “I think you’ve just put yourself up in the same league as Céline andMariah Carey.”

Kelly Clarkson singing on the Kelly Clarkson Show.Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty

Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty

Céline Dion at her documentary screening in New York City in June 2024.Cindy Ord/Getty

Cindy Ord/Getty

InPEOPLE’s June 2024 cover story, Dion opened up about her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis and what that means for her return to the stage. “I don’t want to sound pretentious, but [singing] has never been difficult. I got scared that it was harder,” she confessed. “I was like, that’s not supposed to be hard.”

But the future is promising, as she said, “I have a wonderful coach vocally, and physically [my treatment plan] is making such a difference.”

source: people.com