Kelly Clarkson honored the national holiday of MLK Day on Monday (January 15) with the perfect Kellyoke tribute. The singer took the stage to perform an amped-up version of U2's 1984 anthem “Pride (In the Name of Love),” the Irish rockers' iconic anthem that includes lines paying tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. .
Clapping to the song's iconic rolling drum and guitar chord intro, Clarkson wistfully sang the tune's indelible opening lines: “One man come in the name of love/ One man come and go/ One man come he to justify / one man to upthrow', before climbing into her high, powerful register for the song's vocal chorus, 'In the name of love/ What more in the name of love'.
As her house band progressed, Clarkson moved into the third verse, which refers more specifically to King, detailing the assassination and his lasting legacy. the singer performed the lyrics not as originally written – with an erroneous reference to “early morning” to the time of day of King's assassination in 1968 that U2 singer Bono has since addressed – but with the updated nod to the attack early on night at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis that brought down the civil rights figure.
“Early afternoon, the fourth of April/ Gunshots ring out in the Memphis sky/ Free at last, they took your life/ They couldn't take your pride,” Clarkson urgently sang before ending the performance with one of her trademark notes that can be heard on sky. a day when many Americans reflect and turn to acts of service to honor King.
It wasn't the first time Clarkson played a U2 song on Kellyoke's hugely popular track, having previously performed the soaring “Beautiful Day” in 2021 and “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” during Black Lives. Protest issue after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
Watch Clarkson pay tribute to King below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/kelly-clarkson-honors-mlk-day-u2-kellyoke-pride-1235581848/
