Kelly Clarkson tears up performing 'Piece by Piece' with lyric change 12 days before Brandon Blac...

Blackstock died Aug. 7 from cancer. Kelly Clarkson tears up performing 'Piece by Piece' with lyric change 12 days before Brandon Blackstock's death

Blackstock died Aug. 7 from cancer.

Kelly Clarkson tears up performing 'Piece by Piece' with lyric change 12 days before Brandon Blackstock's death

Blackstock died Aug. 7 from cancer.

By Jessica Wang

Jessica is a staff writer at , where she covers TV, movies, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and more. She lives in California with her dog.

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Published on August 11, 2025 02:44PM EDT

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Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock. Credit:

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Kelly Clarkson performed an emotionally charged rendition of "Piece by Piece" not long before the death of Brandon Blackstock, her ex-husband and father of her two children.

Blackstock, a former talent manager, died Aug. 7 at 48 following a three-year battle with cancer. Clarkson kept the family matter private, but a resurfaced clip from the July 26 show of the Grammy winner's now-postponed Las Vegas residency appears to allude to the tolls of the diagnosis.

Clarkson broke down in tears before a performance of "Piece by Piece," the 2015 ballad about Blackstock released two years into their marriage. The song reads as a letter to her estranged father and dives into how Blackstock "restored [her] faith" that "a man can be kind and a father could stay," per the original lyrics.**

"I've never rewritten a song more and I probably never will," Clarkson told the audience before the latest rendition. "I wrote this song with a lot of hope and projection for happiness and better than what was happening. And then, well, life set in, and I had to change the lyrics. Everybody was like, 'Wait, why aren't you singing this song?' And I was like, 'Have you heard the lyrics?'"**

Brandon Blackstock's cause of death revealed

Kelly Clarkson's absence from her talk show earlier this year was due to ex-husband Brandon Blackstock's illness

Clarkson first changed the lyrics in 2023, a year after her divorce from Blackstock was finalized. "We did it one time, I did a residency here, and then I was like, 'You know what, that sounded a little angry,'" she said.****Her relationship with the lyrics and its many iterations, Clarkson explained, has since changed. "I just wanted to explain how it feels now. I'm 43. I've done some therapy, and I changed the lyrics now and I think it's perfect. I promise I'm not gonna change it again. Screw it, let's just sing it."**

Clarkson separated from Blackstock in 2020 after nearly seven years of marriage.**

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock at the 2018 Grammys.

Steve Granitz/WireImage

The most version of the ballad features the new addition: "I'm learning every day how to love me / I let go of the shame that you taught me / piece by piece I restored the faith / that a heart can still beat even if it breaks."

The singer-songwriter postponed the remainder of her Vegas residency last week, sharing in a statement on Aug. 6 that Blackstock had been ill and that she needed to be present for their children, daughter River Rose, 11, and son Remington Alexander, 9. The dates were moved to late July 2026.

"I am sincerely sorry to everyone who bought tickets to the shows, and I so appreciate your grace, kindness, and understanding," Clarkson said.**

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