Clarkson plays the Majestic one day after playing Super Bowl
What a difference a day makes.
Kelly Clarkson goes from singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl pregame Sunday to bringing her Stronger tour to the historic Majestic Theatre on Monday.
It's just another day in the life of the award-winning original American Idol winner.
Her down-home appeal (the rare charm of a genuine smile) is the secret ingredient, according to Jed Gottlieb of the Boston Herald.
Kelly Clarkson's stage set is skimpy by Katy Perry standards. The original American Idol's' J.C. Penney style is painfully un-hip compared with Lady Gaga's grandeur. Her booty, well, let's just say Beyonc would dress that thing up, wrote Gottlieb in a recent review.
But what other stars consider faults are Clarkson's assets ... You can't fake what Clarkson has: honest, earnest, down-home appeal.
The Times Union, too, found her genuine and unscripted in her between-tune patter, amiably chatting with fans in the front rows at a recent concert.
It's no surprise then that the versatile Grammy-winning rocker is nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award for the duet with Jason Aldean on Don't You Wanna Stay, which may have something to do with the decision to recently re-record Mr. Know It All as a country tune.
Clarkson will perform Don't You Wanna Stay with Aldean at the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12.
At Monday's show, Clarkson will deliver hits such as Since U Been Gone, Breakway, Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You), My Life Would Suck Without You, Mr. Know It All and Miss Independent.
The Aldean hit will be presented as a video duet Monday.
There's also a high probability that the big-voiced Texan (she's from Burleson, south of Fort Worth) will knock Heart's What About Love and Florence + the Machine's Heavy in Your Arms out of the park during her 90-minute show with her eight-piece band.
Offstage, Clarkson jumped into the political fray (and suffered the blowback) when she tweeted about her love for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul: I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination ... If he wins the nomination for the Republican Party in 2012 he's got my vote. Too bad he probably won't.
Billboard, however, reported that claims about a sales bump for her Stronger album candidate Paul told NPR that Clarkson's sales had soared 600 percent were not accurate.
For her part, Clarkson told NPR's Guy Raz of All Things Considered that she tweeted her support on a lark but then the whole freakin' world, like, it went into a frenzy.
Besides her political views, she has been bashed about her weight and image.
If I'm the pop star, then it should be whatever I am, Clarkson told NPR.
There's, you know, room for Katy Perrys and Adeles and Rihannas and Lady Gagas and Ke$has and me and Pinks. I think what's great about all of us is that we represent something different.
hsaldana@express-news.net