American super star Kelly Clarkson has covered “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence on her show today. During the Kellyoke segment, the winner of the first ever American Idol delivered a special performance of the 2019 Eurovision winning song.
Kelly Clarkson doing “Arcade”
On the Kellyoke part of her self-titled The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson always comes up with a rendition of a well-known song. Previous performances include Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” and the legendary Céline Dion’s “I Drove All Night”. Together with her band Y’All, the 39-year old now surprised the audience (and Eurovision fans) with Duncan Laurence’s “Arcade”. The arrangement was new for this cover, with more of a pop rock vibe to it – the vibe that’s become Kelly Clarkson’s trademark. Combined with her powerful vocal, this rendition is surely worth watching. Duncan Laurence himself has reacted to the cover on social media. He says:
The Kelly Clarkson Show started back in 2019 and has proven to be rather successful. Kelly Clarkson has won the Daytime Emmy Award in both 2020 and 2021 for Outstanding Host – an accolade to be proud of. The show is set to take over the timeslot of Ellen DeGeneres on many channels once she ends her show later this year.
The American Dream of “Arcade”
Ever since winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019, “Arcade” has been creating dreams for Duncan Laurence. It all started in early 2021 – 1,5 years after Duncan had won the contest in Tel Aviv. The song gained popularity on TikTok, making Duncan an interesting guest in the United States. His first appearance there came on a segment of the hugely popular The Today Show. Soon after that performance, talkshow Ellen followed suit, where Duncan Laurence performed his re-release of “Arcade” together with Fletcher. With so much exposure in the States, it didn’t take long for “Arcade” to be verified Gold there as well – meaning Duncan Laurence had sold over 500,000 copies of the song.
It has since then also become the most streamed Eurovision winner on Spotify. Eventually, “Arcade” was #44 on Spotify’s Global Chart of 2021. Kelly Clarkson covering the song just adds another chapter to the American Dream Duncan Laurence has been living with his Eurovision winning entry. Quite the success for this small town boy…
Have a listen to Kelly Clarkson and her version of “Arcade” below and let us know what you think! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the upcoming months.
