Kelly Clarkson is reminiscing about her “American Idol” days.
In 2002, a year after winning the first season of the singing competition show, Clarkson passed the torch to Ruben Studdard. clay aken Was the runner-up during that second season, but the talk show host didn’t remember it that way.
“We hung out a lot,” Clarkson, 42, recalled while speaking to Aiken on Monday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” “After you won we toured. I think that’s what the Independent Tour was called.”
Aiken, 46, opened his eyes in shock before quipping, “After I came in second place.”
“what you?” Clarkson asked before her guest repeated, “After I came in second place!”
“So sorry, Ruben. I remember it perfectly,” Clarkson told the camera. “Look, I am 42 years old, brother. I forgot, yes.”
But Aiken, who returned to the music scene after a 10-year hiatus with his new holiday album “Christmas Bells Are Ringing,” understood the mix.
“It’s been 20 years,” he recalled. “We’re both getting older.”
“For some reason in my mind, you’ll be on different shows,” Clarkson explained, “because I know that, speaking of Christmas, you’ll be doing ‘The Christmas Show.’
This wasn’t the only project Aiken and Studdard, 46, did together.
The singer added, “We even did a show together on Broadway.” “We went on tour last year for the 20th anniversary and I’m sure we’ll do that again. “I mean, we’re kind of inseparable.”
“I think we’re better off together than apart,” he said.
The pair have remained close over the years, with Clarkson adding, “It’s a strange pairing to see the two of you but it works.”
As well as composing music, Aiken also played his own tunes step into politicsRunning for Congress in North Carolina as a Democrat in 2022.
The artist did not win and had lost a run earlier In 2014 he ran for North Carolina’s 2nd congressional district, which was considered a safe Republican seat.
Aiken, who is dad to 16-year-old Parker, with whom he co-parents James Foster, revealed why he wanted to try something new.
“My son has reached an age where I don’t want to be away from him,” he said. “I wanted to be home more often, so I wanted to do something that would allow me to be in one place all the time. And I thought I could make a change with this. It doesn’t matter in politics.”
Instead, Aiken is set to return to the music industry.
She elaborated, “I did that for 10 years and kind of decided I hated them all and at the same time I realized, Parker is 16 now and he wants me to do as much as possible. I can go away from there.” “So the whole idea of getting back into music was because I’ve been wanting to get out of the house for a while now.”
All joking aside, Aiken said, “Music can make people happy.”
“And I thought the politics thing could make people’s lives better but it doesn’t and music does that,” he concluded. “It gets people away from their problems, so I realized I could probably do better with music.”
