Allow us to go back to the year 2002 for a moment. It was the first season of a brand-new hit show on Fox called American Idol and none other than 20-year-old Kelly Clarkson from Fort Worth, Texas, won the grand prize of a record deal with RCA Records.
This video shared on YouTube shows footage from Kelly Clarkson’s original audition in front of music business legends Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson.
In the clip, a young Kelly can be seen waiting her turn to audition alongside Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman, who appeared as cohost in the first season. She does not seem nervous at all, in fact, she discusses how if the whole singing thing didn’t work out, she had hopes of becoming a fashion designer.
For her audition song, Kelly sings “Express Yourself” by Madonna. After she’s done impressing the judges, Randy tells the young singer that he loves that song because he worked on it with Madonna in the late 1980s.
After Randy confesses to working on the hit single, both Simon and Paula can’t help but giggle to themselves, which lightens the mood and gives Kelly the opportunity to joke with the judges and tell Randy that she thinks he should try out for the show.
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As the silliness continues, Kelly and Randy switch positions and she joins the judges’ table while Randy gets on his knees and apprehensively sings a line from R Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly.”
Kelly can be seen fully leaning into the judge’s job as she asks Paula and Simon whether they think Randy should make it to Hollywood.
To see a young Kelly Clarkson audition for American Idol and wow the judges with her adorable charm, check out the video posted on YouTube.
