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Kelly Clarkson postponed her Las Vegas residency this week, telling her fans, “While I normally keep my personal life private, this past year, my children’s father has been ill and at this moment, I need to be fully present for them.” The next day, the family of her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock, announced that he had passed away at age 48 after a three-year battle with cancer.
During her July 26 performance at Caesars Palace, the 43-year-old singer broke down before singing her 2015 hit “Piece by Piece.” The song was originally written during her seven-year marriage and chronicled her father’s abandonment and how Brandon restored her faith in men and fathers. In 2023, after their divorce was finalized, she rewrote the song to what she considered an “angry” version, changing the lyrics from “He never walks away, he never asks for money/He takes care of me, he loves me/Piece by piece, he restored my faith/That a man can be kind and a father could stay” to “I just walk away when they ask for money/I take care of me, ’cause I love me/Piece by piece, I restored my faith/That a heart can still beat even when it breaks.”
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She changed up the lyrics once again this year, singing, “And you know/I’m learning every day how to love me/I let go of the shame that you taught me/Piece by piece, I restored my faith/That a heart can still beat, even when it breaks.”
When she took the stage two weeks ago, Kelly had a hard time stopping the tears as she told the story behind the song. According to a video shared on Tik Tok, she wiped her eyes as she said, “Compartmentalization…I’ve never rewritten a song more, and I probably never will. I wrote this song with a lot of hope and projection for happiness and better than what was happening, and then, well life set in and I had to change the lyrics. Everybody was like, ‘Wait, why aren’t you singing this song?’ and I was like, ‘Have you heard the lyrics?'”
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She continued, “I ended up changing it up and doing it one time when we did a residency here two years ago, and then I was like you know what, that sounded a little angry. So I just wanted it to sound how it feels now. I’m 43, done some therapy. I’ve changed the lyrics and I feel like it’s perfect now. I promise, I swear to God I’m not going to change it again….We grow up, right? And this is like the more grown-up version of it.”
She interrupted her explanation and took a moment to wipe away tears again and then jumped into the song as fans chanted her name in support. During the performance, Kelly sang, these lyrics with a focus on her children, River Rose and Remington: “Piece by piece, I fell far from the tree/I will never leave them like you left me/and they will never have to wonder their worth/because unlike you, I’m gonna put them first/I’ll never walk away, I’ll never break their hearts/I’ll take care of things when love leaves scars/Piece by Piece I’ll restore their faith/that a heart can still beat, even when it breaks.”
Now knowing what Kelly and her kids were going through, it’s hard to imagine how she had the strength to sing these powerful lyrics.
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