Kelly Clarkson Sings Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For A Film)”: Watch

Kelly Clarkson loves Radiohead. She said it clearly. Every day Clarkson opens his daytime talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show singing a cover. In the past, she’s covered entry-level Radiohead classics like “Creep” and “Karma Police.” With those done, Clarkson now gets into the deep cuts. Today Clarkson and his band took “Exit Music (For A Film)”, and he reigned.
Clarkson’s take on “Exit Music” clarifies a few things. For one thing, it’s not really that weird! “Exit Music” comes from Ok Computer, and it’s not the kind of straightforward alternative rock that Radiohead did on its first two albums, but it’s not too far off from that either. When Clarkson sings the song in his grit-adjacent bluesy moan, it sounds like a classic rock song, which is essentially what it is.
Also, I guess I never thought about how well Thom Yorke sang on the original “Exit Music.” The man hit some big notes! Yorke’s voice is so much a part of Radiohead’s sound that I rarely consider it in isolation, but when Kelly Clarkson hits those same notes, it really brings out the size of Yorke’s voice. Below, check out Clarkson’s cover and the Radiohead original.
Do “Pyramid Song” next, Kelly! Or “Dark Star”!