Kelly Clarkson on Carrie Underwood ‘Beef,’ ‘Since U Been Gone’ Story, ‘Destroying’ German Bathroom

In her defense, Andy really likes to make his guests squirm when they play “Plead the Fifth,” and he really set Kelly up to stick her foot in her mouth and maybe even swallow it with his first question. She’s previously talked about how celebs were rude to her coming out of “American Idol,” so he simply asked her to name one.

You know, no big deal. Trash talk the celebs who were trash-talking you. Well, she could have, but Kelly instead opted to take the high road, though it apparently comes with a bit of shade, too. She would not name names, “But I will say, a lot of them ended up on shows like the one I’m from. It’s funny what money does.”

She tried her best to name an “American Idol” winner from the past five years, but unless you’re an avid viewer, we’re not sure anyone can anymore. Long gone are the days the show was a cultural phenomenon, with the likes of her and Carrie Underwood quickly becoming household names — more on her later!

While she wasn’t able to dish much on his first two questions, she gave more than he asked for with the third. He asked if she, like some other artists have admitted, had ever peed while on stage. She has not, but again shared the story of the time she went the other one backstage.

Yes, she’s shared the story before, but it’s always hilariously awkward.   “Not many people have been cheered on while s—ing,” she said triumphantly. “And I have.”

The “Since U Been Gone” singer — and more on that later, too! — took a deeper dive into the other time her bowels got the best of her. She shared that she’d been sick from food poisoning twice, with one of those leading to the aforementioned backstage release at Staples Center.

The other was in Germany. “I destroyed that bathroom,” she admitted with a laugh. “It was like ‘Bridesmaids.’ I mean, sweat, like, everything. I was like, something’s wrong, deep down.”

Elsewhere in the show, a couple of Andy’s fans asked her about Clive Davis’ memoir with “untrue stories” about her, and Kelly apparently had no idea. But she decided to set the record straight anyway about “Since U Been Gone.”

Andy explained to her that Clive said he had to force her to record it. Kelly pushed back saying, “Well, here’s why,” with an added nod to the camera, “Let’s give some backstory, Davis.”

“I was lied to and they told me, Hey, there’s these producers that want to work with you on this song,” Kelly said. She further said she was told the song had some dummy lyrics attached to it at the time and she was told to “write to the song.”

She was then flown to Sweden to work with the producers, Dr. Luke and Max Martin, where she discovered they had not been told anything about her writing lyrics and had, in fact, finished the song themselves.

“I looked like a fool because I walked in and the label had told me something completely different,” calling it a “red flag.” She asked, “Why lie to me like that? Why not just get me to go there and then they’ll have the song? I don’t like the lying.”

She explained that this is why she has a “bad vibe” with the song. “It’s interesting [the] facts that people like to leave out,” she said.

When Andy asked her how she can reconcile this murky relationship with the song with the fan’s obvious love for it, Kelly joked that she is “a great compartmentalizer.” She just puts it all aside and sings “the hell out of it on tour; I would never not do that.”

Kelly also talked about the so-called feud that has not existed between her and Carrie Underwood for years now. The Season 1 and 4 winners of “American Idol” have been pitted against one another for almost as long as they’ve been winners — in part because they’re the two most successful (financially) winners for the franchise, and in part because they’re women.

“They don’t do that with dudes,” Kelly said of the incessant and ongoing pitting of the women against each other. “We don’t even know each other well enough to be pitted together. Like, literally, we’ve run into each other a handful of times.”

While this was a great and respectful answer to a situation that must be frustrating, we loved even more that it came out of a complete misunderstanding. A caller was setting up her question by referencing the non-feud and Kelly took it and ran with it.

When she felt satisfied with the answer, the caller finished her question by asking, “What was your favorite part about having [Carrie] as a guest on your show?” At this, Kelly realized she’d just jumped on the wrong train with her answer and beelined straight for the bar to hide her embarrassment.

Finally, she just said that it was “awesome” to connect with Carrie, though she lamented that as she had her fellow winner on during the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to meet via Zoom. She’s still hoping to have her on in person someday.

She’s also hoping to maybe have Steve Martin on, as well. In one of the night’s more amusing sidebars, Andy asked her how Steve Martin responded to being asked to play banjo on one of the tracks off her new album, “Chemistry.” That’s when she revealed that despite now having worked with him, she’s still never actually met him.

It was her idea to write him into the lyrics of the track “i hate love,” as well as her idea to go out on a limb and see if he’d be interested in playing on it. “I know he’s a badass musician — the dude’s won more Grammys than me, he’s incredible — and I didn’t think he was going to say yes.”

He did, but unfortunately, the time he was available to come to the studio was when she was booked up with her talk show, and so she never got the chance to connect. “I have yet to meet him,” she told a surprised Andy. “So I want to meet Steve.”

Andy quite brilliantly suggested that he have him on to promote Season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building.” While there, they could even perform the song live together. Or, if she releases it as a single, maybe they could perform it on some award show stage, too.

He also checked in with Kelly about her relationship with her ex-mother-in-law Reba McEntire, now that she and Brandon Blackstock are officially divorced — see the entirety of her new album for the whole story — but luckily, all is well between the longtime friends.

“We were friends before Brandon and I even got together,” Kelly assured Andy. She also laughed that sometimes things don’t work out, as Reba knows all too well from her own life story. Reba and her own Blackstock husband, Narvel, divorced in 2015 after 26 years of marriage.

Finally, he asked her to dish on her fellow “Voice” Coaches, and there have been a lot over her nine seasons. She’s worked alongside Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Niall Horan, and Chance the Rapper.

Kelly’s time on “The Voice” may be over for good, though she’s not said that. After taking Season 22 off to deal with personal issues and family due to her divorce, she’s completely absent from the upcoming two-season cycle amid a permanent move to the East Coast. Her talk show is moving with her, but it’s not so simple for “The Voice.”

Whether she goes back or not, she had some kind words for most of her fellow Coaches and some final shade for Blake Shelton, who also excited the show after its 23rd season this past spring. You can see what she had to say about whom right here.