Kelly Clarkson Talks Her Emotional Last American Idol Performance with Ellen DeGeneres

For American Idol fans Kelly Clarkson's performance of "Piece by Piece" wasn't just a performance.

It marked an end to an era and the emotional lyrics of the song evoked even more emotion during a pretty sad time for the show.

She visited the Ellen DeGeneres show to talk about the emotional performance.

When Kelly Clarkson performed "Piece by Piece" on American Idol, there was not a dry eye in the crowd. DeGeneres asked Clarkson if she was surprised by the reaction that everyone had to the performance.

Clarkson says the next day she was surprised and she was emotional for a whole other reason.

She said it was her last performance on American Idol and she couldn't hold it together because she was losing it almost the entire song.

American Idol "Piece by Piece" performance.

Clarkson said she didn't realize that it was going to be that bad but even during the rehearsal she couldn't get through it. She thought about her daughter running around the same hallways that she was in when she was 19-years-old and just couldn't get through it.

The song "Piece by Piece" is a sad but hopeful song in finding love. She said she wrote the song thinking about how lucky she and her sister were to find incredible fathers and lovers in their lives.

Clarkson joked that she was screwed from the get-go because her husband was there, her daughter was there, she is pregnant with her baby boy and there was the huge nostalgic feeling of being on the American Idol stage for the last time. Keith Urban had tears streaming down his face and the rest of the judges were visibly emotional. Meanwhile, Clarkson and DeGeneres talked about her daughter and how much she loves DeGeneres.

DeGeneres presented Clarkson with little Dory and Nemo outfits for her daughter and son to cap off the visit.

Later on Clarkson performed her powerful hit "Piece by Piece" for the audience. You can check out both Clarkson's interview and performance on the Ellen Show in the videos below.

Kelly Clarkson on the American Idol performance of "Piece by Piece"

Kelly Clarkson performs "Piece by Piece" on the Ellen DeGeneres Show

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