Kelly Clarkson has said that she was “blackmailed” by her record label, RCA, to work with Dr Luke.
In a radio interview with Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS FM, the former American Idol star described the producer as “not a good person”, saying: “Unfortunately when you have that poor of a character so many artists don’t like you, don’t like working with you. That’s not normal.”
Clarkson collaborated with Dr Luke on her 2004 breakout hit Since You’ve Been Gone and 2009’s My Life Would Suck Without You.
Apparently, the partnership wasn’t always Clarkson’s of choice, though.
“The last time I worked with him I only worked with him because literally I got blackmailed by my label,” she said. “It was a really hard time for me. They were like, ‘We will not put your album out if you don’t do this.’”
Clarkson’s revelations come just weeks after a court ruled that Sony does not have to release Kesha from the contract tying her to the label and Dr Luke following Kesha’s allegations the producer abused her. Like Dr Luke’s Kemosabe Records, which has produced Kesha’s music since 2009, Clarkson’s label RCA is a subsidiary of Sony.
“He’s just not a good guy to me. Obviously he’s a talented dude, but he’s just lied a lot,” she added. “I’ve run into a couple really bad situations where, musically, it’s been really hard for me because he will just lie to people. And then it makes the artist look bad. And he’s kind of difficult to work with, kind of demeaning.”
When asked in the interview if she’d had any experiences with Dr Luke similar to Kesha’s, Clarkson conceded that she hadn’t.
“If it’s true then I can’t imagine working with somebody that had done something like that,” she said. “I’ve never had that particular situation happen to me. I’ve never been that sex kitten pop star, I’ve never sold that part. I don’t think anyone would do that to me.”
Dr Luke has vehemently denied Kesha’s claims that he raped her, saying: “I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her. Kesha and I were friends for many years and she was like my little sister.”
Since the court ruling denying Kesha release from her contract, there has been an outpouring of public support for the singer with 200,000 fans calling for a boycott of Sony products, the #FreeKesha hashtag trending globally and several high profile musicians offering to work with her to leak music behind Sony’s back.
Listen to KISS FM‘s full interview with Kelly Clarkson below.
https://soundcloud.com/kiis1065/7316-kyle-and-jackie-o-show-449
