In her Itunes interview she mentions that the first record deal wanted her to lose 20 pounds (and to think she was slim back then).
And the second record deal was from sony and she turned that down cause basically she felt she was throwing her life away.

This will draw shade from the haters...you know that right? Insert the *she could afford to lose that now (insert sarcastic gif*) comment.

Interesting.... Idol would have been screwed. Luckily they found her.

Thank god she turned them down. I don't think that she would have been nearly as successful as she is today. I'm so happy that she won Idol. Everything happens for a reason.

Eery.

She said she wanted to be a background singer and never wanted to be a lead singer. She didn't even knew what Idol was about.

She was itty bitty back when she was 20! I can't imagine her losing 20 pounds back then.

I love her even more now! She could have gone the easy way, but she stayed true to herself and look where she's at now. She rather be herself than have success while being somebody else. Other female popstars (the majority of them) should follow her example and be more dominant.

Doesn't matter what her weight is, she always looks stunning.

I KNOW !!

I remember her saying this somewhere else. I think it was The View. I think she said the label execs were also expecting her to be some black girl and were shocked when they saw she was white. lol

That's sad her first label wanted her to lose 20 pounds. But I'm not surprised, I know a few people that have gone out to Hollywood and tried to "make it" only to be told they needed to lose weight, even though they were already skinny as a rail.

It looks like she had the last laugh. And this isn't meant to be shade, but it's clear that weight has nothing to do with her success... she's super talented and that has everything to do with why she's a star.

True.

It was a decade ago though. They were looking at artist like Britney, Christina, whitney and mariah. All of them were skinny at that time. It's a new decade and I think or at least hope that the record labels don't think the same way as the used to.

This

Another thing to note about Kelly before Idol... she was working with famous songwriter Gerry Goffin. You know ex-husband of Carole King and co-writer of this song:

Which we all know became one of Kelly's most memorable performances on AI. She lived in LA for just 4 months before her apartment burned down, and she managed to get 2 recording offers and work with such a well-known songwriter almost immediately. This girl was destined to do this!

Exactly, Idol gained more from Kelly being on there than Kelly did.

I'm glad that she turned them down. She's really thinking and that's what I like about her.

hello kev

Idol made her IDOL hahahaha

good for her.. yeahhhh

#3 NOW!!!

Do you think Idol would have garnered much success if Kelly hadn't won the first season and became a superstar? I don't think it would have last three seasons if Kelly didn't win.

Is this English?

The point is Kelly Clarkson is a popstar where beauty and visual aspect factor high in the equation. It's only normal for labels to ask at least that much. One would think she'd be 3x more successful if she's slimmer. In pop culture, beauty is almost a pre-requisite. You see girls like Katy, Rihanna, Lana who are delightfully easy to the eyes garner media attention to their music and videos because of their appearance. Yes Kelly is very talented but there's more than that.