Kelly Clarkson has the uncanny ability to find the soul pocket in just about any song. Take, for instance, her rumble through Metallica‘s “Sad But True” during the Kellyoke segment on Monday’s (May 6) episode of her eponymous daytime talk show.
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Sure, the 1991 original from the band’s crushing self-titled album is a dark mediation on the “shadow self” and the battle against a dark force trying to take control of your soul. But, somehow, Clarkson found the faint sliver of light in that otherwise dim forest of turgid inner turmoil.
“Hey, I’m you life/ I’m the one who takes you there/ Hey, I’m your life, I’m the one who cares,” Clarkson sang over a sparse, ominous piano to start the performance. When things began to get serious with lines about the “only true friend” who really cares warning you about betrayal, Clarkson’s voice reached into a higher register as she crooned, “I’m your dream, make you real/ I’m your eyes when you must steal/ I’m your pain when you can’t feel.”
And then, when she hit the title line Clarkson shot up into her signature stratospheric range, belting the word “true” as if her life depended on it while her house band shifted into daytime metal beast mode and the arrangement took on a more sinister rock mode. “You, you’re my mask/ You’re my cover, my shelter,” Clarkson snarled over the chugging arrangement as the stage flashed in red and white.
“Sad But True” was the fifth and last single from 1991’s Metallica, topping out at No. 98 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Watch Clarkson’s cover of “Sad But True” below.
