Photo: Getty Images
Kelly Clarkson delivered a soulful performance of Kylie Morgan’s empowering anthem to help listeners get through their heartbreak, “If He Wanted To He Would,” during the latest Kellyoke segment on The Kelly Clarkson Show. The cover quickly caught Morgan’s attention.
“OMG 😭💕 thank you thank you thank you [Kelly Clarkson],” Morgan gushed in a tweet as she shared the video of Clarkson’s cover on Tuesday (May 23). Some of Morgan’s Twitter followers, including other artists, dropped comments celebrating the original American Idol champion’s spotlight on Morgan’s single. One fan even said “we need” a collab between the two artists, and sister duo Tigirlily Gold exclaimed, “HOLY MOLY WE ARE FREAKING OUT FOR YOU.”
Morgan’s “If He Wanted To He Would,” her single that appeared on her 7-track EP P.S. last year, offers comfort and validation of feelings to young women going through a tough breakup. It’s a feeling she’s thankful to be able to offer others, particularly after she found comfort in music by other artists. She remembered one song, per her record label: “I’ll never forget. Taylor Swift had a song called ‘Last Kiss’ on one of the prior records. It was right when I was going through a breakup with my very first love and I played that song over and over and over until I just like cried every single time ‘cause I’m like, ‘She gets it. I know exactly that feeling.’ And so, to be able to be that for someone else is truly a dream come true.”
“I am still shaking,” Morgan wrote in her caption as she posted a reel on Instagram. “One of the greatest voices in our generation of music sang MY lyrics 😭 There are no words, thank you & beyond [Kelly Clarkson] for gracing my song with your angelic voice. Putting this moment on my tombstone 😭”
“Just 'cause he liked your old picture/ Don't mean he's stuck on the past/ Just 'cause he talks to your brother/ Don't mean he's still attached/ Just 'cause he's drunk at 2 A.M./ Texts, ‘Hey, what's up, girl, how you been?’/ Don't read too much into that/ Don't mean he wants you back
“If he loved you, he would tell you/ If he missed you, he would call/ If he wants you to meet his momma/ Then he would bring you home/ Oh, there ain't no excuse/ He ain't Mr. Misunderstood/ Quit lying to yourself/ If he wanted to, he would/ If he wanted to, he would”
Morgan’s P.S. was one of two projects that she released within the same year, in addition to her 5-track collection, Songs To Say I Do. That project captured the love story she shares with her now-husband, fellow artist and The Voice alum Jay Allen. Morgan previously told iHeartRadio that once she met Allen, she knew that, “for the first time ever, I didn’t have to apologize for what I do, (or) what dreams I’m chasing and the aspirations that I have.” The couple tied the knot in November 2022.
Watch Clarkson cover Morgan’s “If He Wanted To He Would” here, and watch Morgan’s music video below.