Kelly Clarkson says that Martin Short’s face inspired her newest song, “Where Have You Been?”
Clarkson, 43, debuted the track on her SiriusXM channel, The Kelly Clarkson Connection, on Friday, May 2, and shared that she thought of the concept by watching the onscreen romance between Short, 75, and Meryl Streep in Only Murders in the Building.
“I’ve rarely done something like this, but I was watching Only Murders in the Building — it’s Martin Short’s face,” she said. “He says to Meryl Streep’s character in the show, ‘Where have you been?’ He’s, like, in awe and I was like, ‘Has there been a — has anyone written a song?’ Because the song is happy. It’s like you found something that you thought was almost basically a unicorn and did not exist.”
Clarkson has long been a fan of the Steve Martin-created Hulu series and even references Martin’s 2009 romantic comedy It’s Complicated, which also stars Streep, 75, in the song.
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“I hate love / And The Notebook lied,” she sings. “It’s Complicated is more like what happens / So you can keep Gosling and I’ll take Steve Martin.”
Clarkson has worked with Martin, 79, in the past. Martin plays the banjo on her 2023 track “I Hate Love,” from her studio album Chemistry. She looked back on the project that same year in an interview with Billboard.
“I generally don’t ask because I get very nervous about bothering people,” she recalled. “But literally, within hours, I got an answer: ‘Oh my God, he’d love to, when are you recording it?’”
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Since Martin has appeared on one of Clarkson’s albums, it’s not out of the question that the three-time Grammy winner could have a cameo on Only Murders in the Building. In a January Q&A with fans posted to The Kelly Clarkson Show’s YouTube channel, she said that would be the one show she’d want to appear on.
“I guess if I was [to have a cameo], maybe Only Murders in the Building because I love Only Murders in the Building,” she said. “But I’ve seen the level in which that show — I am not a walk-on. I actually take that back.”
Despite her hesitancy, Clarkson has waded into TV acting before. She made a brief appearance on ABC series The Rookie in 2023, an experience that left her starstruck by the show’s lead.
“I was terrified. I have to apologize to that cast and crew,” she recalled. “I was terrified. I got there, they invited me and here’s the thing, I’ve been a fan of Nathan Fillion since Castle. I don’t get nervous on sets, but he made me more nervous than I’ve ever been on set … I was an idiot on that set.”
