Kelly Clarkson Did Taylor Swift Justice With Her “Lavender Haze” Cover

The “Kellyoke” fun continues on The Kelly Clarkson Show. In her Nov. 26 episode, host Kelly Clarkson performed her first Taylor Swift cover of Season 6. She turned to Swift’s 2022 album, Midnights, to give fans “Lavender Haze (Kelly’s Version).”

Clarkson and her house band opened the episode with a slightly shortened version of the popular Swift song. Her rich vocals wowed Swifties, who soon felt the lavender haze creepin’ up on them. Praise rolled in after the video was posted on the show’s YouTube page.

“I have been a Taylor Swift fan for 16 years now and I wanna hear more of Taylor Swift song covers by Kelly Clarkson,” one fan wrote. Another agreed, saying it’s one of their favorite Swift songs and “Kelly just blew it out of the water.” Still someone else admitted they usually don’t like covers of Swift’s music, but Clarkson is “always killing it.”

Since introducing her “Kellyoke” segment in Season 3, the three-time Grammy winner has enjoyed borrowing from Swift’s catalog. Years before “Lavender Haze,” she performed “Welcome to New York” as part of a medley, “Better Man (Taylor’s Version),” and “Clean” in different episodes. All of the previous covers came in Season 4, so she was due for another.

The Clarkson-Swift Friendship

Clarkson doesn’t just admire Swift’s music — the two are on very friendly terms. In fact, it was the American Idol vet who suggested to Swift that she re-record her music amid the singer’s public battle with Scooter Braun over her masters in 2019.

“@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions,” Clarkson tweeted at the time. “I’d buy all of the new versions just to prove a point.”

Swift did indeed take the advice, and Clarkson told E! in November 2023 that she gets a gift each time a re-recorded album comes out. “She just sent me flowers,” she said. “She’s so nice. … She was like, ‘Every time I release something’—’cause she just did 1989. I got that really cute cardigan, too.”

Clarkson also praised Swift for becoming “known for being such an incredible songwriter,” so it’s no wonder she used another one of her songs on her talk show.