14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since Kelly Clarkson put out her latest single, the heartbreaking ballad “Already Gone,” rumors of the similarity between it and Beyonce’s equally heart-wrenching “Halo” have never ceased to gain in intensity. The former American Idol has spoken out before on the issue, denying any kind of wrongdoing, but this time, she’s doing so officially, gossip blogger Perez Hilton informs.
The former AI alum and the original Idol, as Clarkson is often referred to in the media, is taking an official stand on the controversy on whether she stole Beyone’s song or not. Although the release date (“Halo” came out before “Already Gone”) would seem to indicate that she did do just that, Kelly is now defending herself, saying her ballad had been written ever since she was still on Idol, which means Beyonce penned hers at a later hour, which, in turn, means Kelly did not steal from her.
As for the similarity in sound – since intros for both ballads sound almost identical – Kelly Clarkson does not deny it exists, but she is adamant it’s not because she’s a thief. Quite on the contrary, the singer explains, any similarity can be attributed to her producer, who also happened to work with Beyonce for her latest album. Moreover, Kelly did her best to prevent “Already Gone” from being released as a single precisely because she did not want to encourage this type of comments (namely, that she’s a thief), but she no longer has a say in the matter.
“In the end, they’re releasing it without my consent. It sucks, but it’s one of those things I have no control over. I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it. It’s kind of a [awful] situation, but…You know, you learn.” Clarkson reportedly said about the release of “Already Gone” as a single, as cited by Perez Hilton. As for the similarities between the two songs, Clarkson blames songwriter / producer Ryan Tedder of One Republic for that, as also noted above.
“Ryan and I met each other at the record label, before he was working with anyone else. He’s from Oklahoma, I’m from Texas; we got along really well and had some of the same influences. We wrote about six songs together, four or five of them made the album. It was all fine and dandy. I’d never heard of a song called ‘Halo.’ Her album came out when my album was already being printed. No one’s gonna be sittin’ at home, thinkin’ ‘Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyonce and Kelly the same track to write to.’ No, they’re just gonna be sayin’ I ripped someone off. I called Ryan and said ‘I don’t understand. Why would you do that?’” the singer explained.
Here is where you can listen to samples from both ballads to make up your own mind.