My crazy shift just ended, and I'm exhausted.
This was in our main local paper ( ie. the Straits Times )today. Raised my eyebrows quite a bit!

Fangs For The Memories -- by Lionel Seah
( comments can be sent to stlife@sph.com.sg )

Barely a year after finding fame in the reality TV show, American Idol I winner Kelly Clarkson seems to have grown an ego to match her voice.


American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson is larger in real life. The newly-minted diva looks like a plus-sized Jennifer Aniston with her streaked hair and almost sweet, pleasant face.
But beneath that Kelly Osbourne figure, which hides an impressive pair of lungs, it seems there is an ego larger than her own four-octave range.

The moment Clarkson breezes into the room at the Fullerton Hotel on Thursday evening, her diva attitude is apparent.
With a posse of minders behind her, the 21-year-old inquires snappily in her drawl: "Is this next interview for another kids' magazine?"
When she realizes it is not, she does a 180-degree about-turn and flashes a toothsome smile.
"I'm sorry. I have been at this for the past few days, it's hard to keep track who the interviews are for," she explains in a contrived tone.

Clarkson, who won over hearts and a US$1 million recording contact in the popular reality TV show American Idol last year, is in town to promote her debut album, Thankful.
She performed at Embassy last night to a private crowd. She leaves on Sunday for a promotional tour to Australia.

But her friendliness soon turns frosty when she is informed that the fashion shoot will be at the lobby.
"As in, where there are people?" she asks with a sour expression.
Er, yes. There are often people at hotel lobbies, you want to break the truth gently to her.
But before you can, Clarkson does a Charlotte Church and stomps off in her platform sandals, ahead of everyone.
Though not before she utters haughtily in an audible voice: "I f***ing hate this."

Sensing her mega-displeasure, a minder suggests the shoot be done in the room she had just left.
"It's just that I hate people looking at me when I pose," she explains, while faking a pose and a stiff smile.
"I'm not comfortable with that. I hope you understand."

(Next is a bit about Kelly's past and family background, which I've left out.)

Her brassiness and confidence is that of someone who has found fame -- all 15 minutes of it -- for the first time.
You ask whether she feels she is too young to handle fame and the brunette dismisses the notion with one fell swoop.
"Not at all. I was offered a recording contract when I was 15. I turned it down because I wanted an education first," she declares, without missing a beat.
The recording deal was not the only thing she turned down. She also turned down a place at the University of California, Berkeley, because of problems at home, which she does not want to delve into.
"But I'm concerned about those individuals who become famous in their teens. I think it messes up their lives a little if they're not careful," she offers grandly, perhaps thinking of pitiful folks like Drew Barrymore and Macaulay Culkin when they were younger.
Her win, she admits, has opened doors and taken her places. A few months back, she bought a house in North Carolina for her divorced mother.
"Fame, though, is not what I', in it for. It comes with the job. But I would like to be able to move around without being recognized," she claims.

Asked how she feels is critics label her a cookie-cutter idol and she delivers an almost rehearsed spiel.
"People who said that, obviously, didn't watch the show," she snarls. "I was on a show where I wore and preformed what and how I wanted to. No one's ever told me what to do," she says, slightly annoyed.
"Anyway, I'm Texan. Nobody tells me what to do."

So would she react if critics compare her to fellow warbler Mariah Carey, whose voice, it has been said, covers an impressive spectrum but lacks soul?
"The people who said that must be tone-deaf," she snaps. "Mariah is an excellent writer and singer. I believe she doesn't receive the credit she deserves."

Then comes the nub.
"Not all critics will like me for who I am. They won't tell it to my face but they'll write about it. Anyway, critics don't buy my album, fans do," she rattles off.

If Clarkson sounds callous, irritable and loose-lipped, it could be because she is exhausted. Well, that's the official explanation from one the minders anyway.
She may be tired -- she yawns in front of the the camera, in between poses -- but the image of her that emerges from the 20-minute interview, certainly, makes the American seem like someone who has grown far too big for her boots.

And as the singer with the golden voice makes her way back after the shoot, which eventually takes place in the suite she agrees to, no one even recognizes her.
Perhaps, just perhaps, this is exactly what Clarkson would be thankful for?

The End


My mom was appalled by this article, and said it best with: "Clay would NEVER behave this way."
Food for thought, everyone!