Kelly Clarkson performed a cover of Bloc Party’s 2004 single ‘Like Eating Glass’ on Monday’s (November 27) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show.
The performance is part of the American Idol alum’s tradition of opening her talk show with a cover song. While most of Clarkson’s song choices tend to favour chart-topping stars, including Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Vampire’, Billie Eilish’s ‘Happier Than Ever’ and Selena Gomez ‘Lose You To Love Me’, she opened the November 27 episode with post-punk revival stalwarts Bloc Party’s ‘Like Eating Glass’, the opening track of their breakout 2004 debut LP, ‘Silent Alarm’.
With her and her band decked out in all-black outfits and leather jackets, Clarkson delivers an impassioned take of the track, her powerhouse vocals soaring upon Kele Okereke’s iconic opening lyric: “It’s so cold in this house”.
Watch Kelly Clarkson’s cover of ‘Like Eating Glass’ below:
The cover is Clarkson’s latest attempt at an alternative classic. In January, the ‘Since U Been Gone’ powerhouse opened her show with Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ opener ‘Do I Wanna Know’ and Blink-182’s ‘Enema Of The State’ standout, ‘All The Small Things’. In the past, she has covered Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’, The Smiths’ ‘How Soon Is Now?’, and Radiohead’s ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’.
Bloc Party’s latest release was their July 2023 EP, ‘The High Life’, which features the KennyHoopla-featuring ‘Keep It Rolling’, the quartet’s first ever collaboration. In a statement, frontman Kele Okereke expressed his admiration for KennyHoopla, saying: “I’ve been a fan of Kenny’s for a while now, so when he came to London I jumped at the chance of getting in the studio together.”
Over the summer, Bloc Party supported Paramore on the North American leg of their ‘This Is Why’ tour. Preceding this, Okereke joined the band in their last UK tour date at the O2 Arena to perform a cover of another ‘Silent Alarm’ cut, ‘Blue Light’. On her Everything Is Emo podcast, Paramore’s Hayley Williams has expressed her admiration for the London quartet, and named them as an influence on ‘This Is Why’.
Bloc Party’s last full-length album was 2022’s ‘Alpha Games’, which was the first to feature drummer Louise Bartle and bassist Russell Lissack. In a three-star review, NME’s Ali Shutler highlighted the record’s fresh spin on the mid-aughts post-punk revival which the group championed in their early years.
“‘Alpha Games’ sees Bloc Party still championing the ’00s scene that they came up in, but there’s not a hint of nostalgia in sight,” he writes. “With a renewed vigour and the desire to keep things moving, this sixth album could soundtrack a new generation of indie discos.”