Kelly Clarkson Gives a Tribute to Broadway with 'Waitress' Kellyoke

Kathryn Milewski -

Kelly Clarkson's next stunning Kellyoke on The Kelly Clarkson Show? None other than the ballad "She Used To Be Mine" from Sara Bareilles' musical Waitress.

Although Broadway theatres may be shuttered now from the COVID-19 pandemic, Clarkson made due with her space - belting the song while dancers performed a heartfelt routine in the background. There was also a cameo from Ciara Renee, the last actress to play the lead role of Jenna — stepping in for Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles.

Waitress ran for more than 1,500 performances on Broadway before closing in January 2020 and then rebooting for a limited engagement in September 2021 as the first show to come back following the widespread COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway. It wrapped up two weeks earlier than expected on December 22, 2021 due to the resurgent spike in COVID cases.

Just two weeks before Clarkson's special Kellyoke, the official Waitress Twitter account made a special request: “RT if you think @KellyClarksonTV & @kellyclarkson should do a Waitress #Kellyoke of ‘She Used To Be Mine’ before the end of our Broadway run.”

On Friday, the show re-tweeted the ask alongside a video of Clarkson’s performance and a message to the show’s creator, singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles. “Anything for @SaraBareilles @WaitressMusical,” read Clarkson's note, along with a blue heart and pie emoji.


“I’m so honored that y’all wanted me to sing… First of all, I love that song, it’s so beautiful, so empowering to sing, it feels like a guttural moment every time you sing it,” Kelly told Renee, who said it was “wild and strange and beautiful” to reprise the title role in the show.

Renee explained that like everyone in the Broadway community, she missed performing during the year-plus COVID-19 shutdown, which is why coming back to the show she loved so much was a “dream come true.”

In other Kelly Clarkson news, the singer recently released her new holiday album When Christmas Comes Around and even showed off one of the tracks on The Kelly Clarkson show.

Watch Kelly Clarkson's Kellyoke of "She Used To Be Mine" below.


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Article Image: Kelly Clarkson poses for a photo on the blue carpet before the 2018 U.S. Open. (zhukovsky via DepositPhotos.)