Kelly Clarkson Says Mariah Carey Should Get More Credit as a Songwriter

Kelly Clarkson is always celebrating her fellow female powerhouses, and in a new interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, she shared her love for Mariah Carey‘s songwriting skills.

“People don’t give her enough credit,” Clarkson said. “People give her credit as, like, a singer. I don’t think people give her credit as a writer. I don’t think people realize. She wrote all that s—. Financially, she’s rocking it because of what she’s done. I think people think of her as a songbird and they don’t think of her as the writer that she is. We talk about Carole King, we talk about James Taylor — those are all amazing people, yes, but I’m just saying.”

Clarkson is gearing up to release her tenth studio album, Chemistry, on June 23 via Atlantic Records, which she described as a “relationship album,” not just an album about divorce following her split from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. “It was very thought out and very much on purpose to have the album not just be a divorce or breakup album. It was more of a relationship album… Chemistry,” she explained. “With ‘Magic,’ it’s like, OK, it’s hard, relationships are hard. This is worth it. I’m willing to get beat up for this. If you can do it, and I’ll do it, if we do this together, I can do it.”

She continued, “It was important to me because I think it’s a waste when somebody says that they jump in and they wash it all off. It’s like, I don’t want to wash it all off. My whole thing is like, yes, there’s parts that you let go of, dreams or hope or things like that, but there is a very big part of that relationship that I never thought I’d experience love like that. I never thought I would ever have that. People are fortunate to have that, to at least experience it. It didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean it was all bad. It just means it didn’t end well.”

Chemistry features previously released track “Favorite Kind of High” as well as double singles “Mine” and “Me.” Watch the full Apple Music interview with Kelly Clarkson below.