Kelly Clarkson Alters Piece By Piece Lyrics After Brandon Blackstock Divorce Due to Difficulty Singing: ‘I Was in a Completely Different Mindset During its Creation’

It’s been about eight years since the release of Kelly Clarkson’s very personal song Piece By Piece (2015), which is off her seventh album of the same name.

But since then she went through a bitter divorce from now ex-husband Brandon Blackstock that subsequently made it tough for her to sing the song live for her fans.

During and appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the host asked about her decision to rewrite the lyrics, in an attempt to update the storytelling so she doesn’t have to relive the heartbreak every time she sings it.

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‘Look, I was finding a hard time singing [Piece by Piece], like, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to really sing about that?’ Clarkson, 41, confessed to Fallon on Friday, in a promotional push for her recent studio album, Chemistry, that has been described as her ‘divorce’ album. ‘I was at a very different place when I wrote it.’ 

Clarkson has been open and honest about the meaning of the song, which she previously revealed was inspired by her relationship with Blackstone at the time, compared to her absentee father and how he treated her and the rest of her family during her tumultuous childhood. 

Personal edit: Kelly Clarkson, 41, revealed she changed the lyrics to her song Piece By Piece after having a hard time singing it following her bitter divorce from Brandon Blackstock

‘But piece by piece, he collected me up / Off the ground, where you abandoned things, yeah,’ she sang on the original song. ‘Piece by piece, he filled the holes that you burned in me / At six years old and you know.’

In the back half of the chorus she adds: ‘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.’

Clarkson decided to make the changes to the lyrics ahead of her show in Las Vegas this past August.

‘I just walk away / when they ask for money / I take care of me / ’cause I love me,’ she sang during the Vegas concert. Basically she swapped ‘he’ for ‘I’ in the new rendition.

Fallon brought up how some fans have been referring to the Piece By Piece rewrite as the ‘healing version.’

‘But you know what? It is very true,’ she admitted to the host. ‘I rewrote it literally an hour before I went on stage in Vegas, to like sing it because I was like, ‘I can’t sing these lyrics, but I know people want me to sing the song.’

The mother of two, who shares her children with her ex-husband, went on to admit the rewrite gave her some clarity.

‘And, you know, it kind of put perspective on me as well. It’s like that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone, you know, to pick up the pieces of something of your past,’ she told Fallon. ‘There was a lot going on for me that day, but it ended up working out.’

‘Look, I was finding a hard time singing [Piece by Piece], like, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to really sing about that?’ Clarkson revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday. ‘I was at a very different place when I wrote it’

Clarkson previously revealed was inspired by her relationship with Blackstock at the time, compared to her absentee father and how he treated her and the rest of her family during her tumultuous childhood.

‘I don’t know if I would make it through the song,’ Fallon said, in reference to Clarkson having to sing such a very personal song that had since turned bittersweet.

‘I don’t know, you just do,’ the Fort Worth, Texas native shot back.

‘My audience is cool. And they were like, cheering me on because they noticed, obviously, I stared changing [the lyrics]. They’re very intimate shows. And so these are like fans that have been with me for the ride and they notice, and then they’re all like screaming like I’m Rudy, you know, at the end of the move, like making it.’

When turning the attention back to her album, Chemistry, as a whole, Clarkson clarified: ‘It’s not just a divorce album, it’s a relationship album. There’s the good and the bad and the hard; all of it is in there.’

‘So chemistry can be good and bad as I’ve personally found out as well,’ she added, along with a half-hearted chuckle.

Clarkson changed the lyrics to Piece By Piece about an hour before her show in Lad=s Vegas in early August in an effort to edit out references to her ex-husband

Bitter divorce: Clarkson and Blackstock went through a bitter divorce where they argued over assets and custody of their two children that lasted nearly two years; they are seen in January 2020, just five months before their split

Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock in June 2020 after seven years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.

The two sides proceeded to battle it out over assets and custody of their two children: daughter River Rose, nine, and son Remington, seven.

It took nearly two years but the divorce was finally finalized in March 2022 with Clarkson retaining primary custody of the kids and agreeing to pay Blackstock a one-time sum of $1.3 million and $115,000 per month in spousal support until January 2024. 

Clarkson also used her appearance on The Tonight Show to promote season 5 of The Kelly Clarkson Show, which premieres on Monday, October 15, and will be filmed in New York City’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza.