Kelly Clarkson Proves She Knows Her Tracks Inside And Out After She Sings 'Since U Been Gone' Backwards On The Tonight Show

Apr 06, 2020

To promote her new album Meaning of Life back in 2017, Kelly Clarkson joined Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show to discuss the new album and her role as a mentor on The Voice. But in what has to be the most memorable moment from Clarkson’s interview, the American Idol star showed that she can sing her songs forwards and backwards — literally.

While Clarkson said she’d never tried to sing one of her songs backwards — and why would she — the pop star was happy to oblige despite the undoubtedly difficult, not to mention unusual, nature of the task. “We’ve heard you sing forwards, and we love it,” Fallon said. “Could we hear you sing one song backwards?” 

So rather than singing the unbelievably popular Since U Been Gone, which helped Clarkson earn a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in early 2006 according to AllMusic, the charming Idol star sang the remixed Gone Been U Since in front of the enthusiastic audience. But Fallon wasn’t too unreasonable with his request. In anticipation of the request, the show set up a karaoke-like set up so that the artist could simply read the backwards lyrics along with the instrumental backing track.

While you can imagine that Clarkson would fumble throughout since the reversed lyrics make absolutely no sense and since she has to change her vocal timing to fit the new song text, she almost makes Gone Been U Since seem natural. Sure, she makes a few mistakes. But when that anthemic chorus arrives, Clarkson hits every single note as if the song were written that way. Not to mention that watching the star belt out “gone been you since!” in front of a gleeful Jimmy Fallon is bound to brighten anyone’s day. But should we be that surprised that Clarkson pulls this off?

Given that Clarkson made a name for herself as the champion of American Idol’s first season back in 2002, according to AllMusic —  a show completely dedicated to putting singers under pressure to sing covers — perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Clarkson still sounds great, even when she isn’t prepared and the the lyrics don’t make any sense. Remember that at the time, at the young age of 20, she beat tons of other talented musicians while under the pressure of being on television.

Most recently, Clarkson put another feather in her cap after she released her eighth studio album Meaning of Life in 2017, which Fallon plugged on the show before the singer’s impromptu backwards karaoke. Even if you aren’t a Clarkson fan, it’s worth checking out Clarkson’s Gone Been U Since for the novelty of it. If it’s any indication of how fun and interesting it is to see an artist sing their own track backwards, Fallon was in stitches for the entire performance.

What did you think of Kelly Clarkson's Gone Been U Since? Was it funny? Impressive? Let us know and pass this on to all the Kelly Clarkson fans you know.