The party just never stopped on Monday’s (Sept. 13) season three debut of Kelly Clarkson’s syndicated daytime talker. In addition to cooking up an all-star opening bit with a bevy of Broadway stars covering Imagine Dragons’ “On Top of the World,” Kelly spent some serious couch time hanging with Coldplay’s Chris Martin and jamming on some of their favorite songs.
Clarkson, who as you know is no stranger to picking left-field cover songs for her show’s signature Kellyoke segments, asked Martin if there are any covers he’s done that have shocked his fans. “Like, I’ve covered Eminem, which I shouldn’t have, but I did,” she said. “Yeah, we did one the other day that was just really awful, so I’m not gonna say what it was,” Martin responded. “We were trying this thing as a band and I saw it back and it just didn’t work at all.”
But a week ago, Coldplay did try to tackle one of the most beloved hip-grinders of all time, Ginuwine’s iconic “Pony,” and that one did work. So, of course, Chris pulled out his trusty acoustic guitar and all Clarkson could says was, “You’re about to play Ginuwine?”
And he did. With Clarkson handling the vocals, Martin strummed out the song’s sensual rhythm as they joined in on the chorus, singing, “If you’re horny, let’s do it, ride it, my pony/ My saddle’s waitin’, come and jump on it,” somehow making it seem a bit less nasty that it actually is. As Martin fanned himself with his hand, a giggling Clarkson said that was one of her “favorite moments in life.”
The superstar summit kicked off earlier in the show when Clarkson wondered if Martin was going to serenade her and the studio audience with a Coldplay song. “Do you have a song you’re feeling moved by right now?” she wondered. He did, but it wasn’t a Coldplay one. It was Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and the ever-charming Martin casually mentioned that he’s never been interviewed by someone who’s a better singer than him.
“Oh you are… I’m done! I’ve just achieved greatness,” a flummoxed Clarkson said, jumping up from her chair as Martin grabbed his guitar. As he strummed out the beginning, Clarkson immediately caught on and flawlessly dropped into the 1987 hit’s melody, with the pair harmonizing on the chorus and the crowd clapping along and Kelly screaming in joy at the end.
They weren’t done, either. Clarkson asked Martin to play his band’s signature ballad “Green Eyes,” adding some ad-libbed harmony vocals to that he clearly dug. “We should go on tour, man,”Martin said. And since Coldplay worked with super-producer Max Martin on their upcoming Music of the Spheres album (Oct. 15), they also ran through Kelly’s titanic Martin-produced 2004 hit “Since U Been Gone.”
Chris even got to hang with Kelly’s kids, also superfans, giving her son a pin for his jacket and inviting them to sing one of their favorite songs together, Coldplay’s breakthrough 2000 hit, “Yellow.” Spoiler alert: it was adorable.
Check out the videos below.
