American Idol, the Texas native took the country by storm in 2002 when she was crowned the first winner of the popular vocal competition.
She recorded hit after hit in the aughts, with many of those songs speaking to queer audiences. For Pride Month in 2020, Clarkson read tweets from her LGBTQ+ fans for a segment on The Kelly Clarkson Show.One gay fan shared that he spent his youth staring longingly out of his window on rainy days and lip-synching to her 2004 smash “Breakaway.” Anthems that resonate with a variety of marginalized people followed — “Walk Away,” “Stronger,” “People Like Us,” “Catch My Breath,” and the list goes on.