Kelly Clarkson

My December

While on tour in Europe in 2006, Clarkson began writing and composing songs for her third album, My December. During the Addicted Tour, Clarkson debuted two of her songs: "Maybe" and "Yeah". Recording commenced on the album in the summer of 2006. The first single from My December was "Never Again", which made its radio debut on April 13, 2007. The song was released on iTunes on April 20, 2007 but was taken down and replaced with a notice that said that the song was not available until April 23, 2007. The single peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #8 and on the Pop 100 at #5. Following "Never Again", Clarkson released "Sober" as her next single from My December on June 6, 2007. The singles were promoted with appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Clarkson also returned to American Idol on the May 23, 2007 season six finale for the first time since its third season, performing "Never Again" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry during a Beatles medley.

The song "Chivas" is a hidden track which can be found after the song "Irvine." Clarkson wrote the song on bar napkins before going to a concert by Los Angeles based cover band Metal Skool where she was famously seen drinking a bottle of Chivas Regal in a popular YouTube video when the she was brought on stage to sing with the band. Current rumors are that the second single in UK will be "Don't Waste Your Time" with a date of release to be confirmed.

Clarkson parted with her management, The Firm, on June 11, 2007, after the controversy surrounding My December. Clarkson would then sign with Starstruck Entertainment, run by Narvel Blackstock - the husband of Reba McEntire - on July 2, 2007. On June 14, 2007, Live Nation announced that Clarkson's summer tour — her first nationwide arena tour—has been cancelled due to underwhelming ticket sales, to be rescheduled after the release of the My December album at smaller, more intimate concert environments.

Clarkson has reinstated plans to tour the US this year - with a much smaller tour than the one she cancelled in June. Clarkson began her tour on October 10 in Verona, New York in venues significantly smaller than those previously booked.

My December was officially released in the U.S. on June 26, 2007. On the date of the album's release, Clarkson appeared on Good Morning America to promote her new album. Clarkson performed songs from this new album, including the single "Never Again". Despite the controversy surrounding My December, the album debuted at #2 in the U.S. with 291,000 albums sold. This is a slightly higher debut than Clarkson's previous album, Breakaway, which debuted at #3. My December has been certified Platinum in Australia, indicating that 70,000 copies have been shipped.

On July 7, 2007, Clarkson performed on the American leg of Live Earth. Her five-set performance list included: "Walk Away", "How I Feel", "Never Again", "Sober", and "Since U Been Gone". In a July edition of USA Weekend Magazine, Clarkson reported that she tried a marijuana cookie while in Amsterdam. "It is legal there," she said, saying that she's never done "anything illegal here [in the U.S.]".

Music Choice deemed Clarkson as their "Artist of the Month" for the month of August. Justin Prager, Director of Rock and Pop Programming, issued a public statement: "Kelly's relatively short career has already produced so much exciting music and she has reached millions of viewers through her vast catalog of music videos available on Music Choice. We are looking forward to helping Kelly continue to connect with her fans with this huge campaign." In light of this, Music Choice released programming detailing Clarkson's career, including a catalog of her favorite moments on screen and in production, a question and answer session with her fans, as well as Clarkson's thoughts on her career.

Clarkson was the celebrity coach for Canadian Idol during its Top 5 week of the fifth season, aired on the CTV network on August 20th, and she performed on the results show the next night. She was also awarded a Platinum Certification for shipments of more than 100,000 copies of My December in Canada. Clarkson also performed at the 2007 NFL opening kickoff where she sang the national anthem and performed songs from My December including "Never Again", "Maybe" and "Don't Waste Your Time". Clarkson will also perform in the halftime show for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets game on Thanksgiving day.