Kelly Clarkson and her daughter, River Rose, recorded a new song together that they’ve been working on for four years.
The American Idol alum, 41, released her track “You Don’t Make Me Cry” on Friday, September 22, and it features River, 9, singing in the background. The lyrics are powerful, as they point to an unnamed person whom Kelly took “the highroad without.”
“You don’t make me cry / And I cry at everything,” she sings in one portion of the song with River. “You don’t make me feel / And I feel more than most / Now that says something, doesn’t it? … Feeling free since I found out you don’t have power / So you searching for some / Well, you can’t have mine / You don’t make me cry.”
Three days ago, Kelly teased her social media followers with the new emotional song while also thanking fans for listening to her track “Roses” as part of her deluxe Chemistry album.
“Thanks for all the love for my song ‘roses’!” the Kelly Clarkson Show host tweeted on Tuesday, September 19. “I can’t wait for y’all to hear the other songs on the deluxe, especially River Rose’s feature. She was 5 yrs old when she was layin’ down tracks for ‘you don’t make me cry,’ [sic],”
The dynamic mother and daughter duo have performed together in the past. In August, they belted out Kelly’s hit single “Heartbeat Song” on stage during her Las Vegas residency.
“I asked my 9-year-old girl, River Rose, I asked her, ‘Well, what song would you do on tour?’” the “Since U Been Gone” hitmaker explained to the crowd at the time. “She’s been jamming to this song since she was a baby. She loves this song so much. So, she was like, ‘Can I sing for you?’ She picked [out] her dress, y’all. River Rose, come on out here.”
As Kelly’s daughter approached the stage, the audience burst into cheers and applause while River ran up to give her mom a hug. Though the young singer admitted she was “scared” to be on such a big platform, her mom insisted, “You killed the sound check. You killed it.”