Dr Luke has responded to Kelly Clarkson’s comments that she was “blackmailed” by her record label to work with him and “he’s just not a good guy”. Well, kind of responded.
In an indirect response, a spokesperson for Dr Luke, AKA Lukasz Gottwald, sent an excerpt from Sony Music chief creative officer Clive Davis’s 2013 memoir The Soundtrack of My Life over to Digital Spy when the website reached out for comment, presumably because it officially documents how Clarkson and Dr Luke came to work together.
The excerpt touches on Clarkson’s second album, Breakaway, and how Dr Luke came to produce some of her biggest hits, like Since You’ve Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You.
The excerpt begins:
“As Kelly was beginning to work on her second album, a song came in for her to do for the soundtrack of the 2004 film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which Whitney Houston had co-produced. The song was Breakaway, written by Avril Lavigne, Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerrard. At first, Kelly didn’t like it and didn’t want to record it, but eventually she relented, and the song became a Top 10 hit for her.”
Davis goes on to write that he had heard good things about Luke and that he was interested in enlisting a couple of songs of his for Clarkson.
“The fact is that I wanted Kelly to have those songs for the very reason [Luke] had written them. Both songs had a sharp rock edge, but were still capable of being pop hits. They would push Kelly in a promising direction for her, while maintaining and even growing her audience.”
Despite Luke’s wish to work with a “rock artist” initially, Davis persuaded him to work with Clarkson along with producing partner Max Martin.
“Max and Luke are very strong, hands-on producers in the studio,” Davis writes. “They are intent on getting perfect vocal performances, and are relentless in that pursuit. It was hard for Kelly, who had come from the high of winning American Idol and then having a double platinum album. You’re young, everybody recognizes you everywhere you go. It’s heady, and all that attention affects all Idol winners.
“But then suddenly you’re in an entirely different world of making records in a studio, and you have to take direction. Kelly didn’t like it. Max and Luke were relentless in getting the right performance of their song. Kelly got her back up, and from her perspective, she had a horrible experience in the studio. She’d never work with them again, she said. Then, after all the work was done, I listened to the performances. They were terrific. I could not have been more thrilled. This was a whole new direction for Kelly.”
In her interview with KISS FM Clarkson described Dr Luke 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” and “he’s kind of difficult to work with, kind of demeaning.” Davis’s excerpt doesn’t address Clarkson’s comments directly but outlines Luke’s way of working perhaps in an attempt to explain why Clarkson might feel the way she does.
Luke continues to deny allegations that he raped Kesha 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.”
https://soundcloud.com/kiis1065/7316-kyle-and-jackie-o-show-449
