Kelly Clarkson and Audrey Morrissey on Bringing Their ‘Amazing Shorthand’ and ‘Trust’ From THE VOICE to AMERICAN SONG CONTEST

After more than four years (and eight seasons) working together on THE VOICE, Kelly Clarkson and showrunner Audrey Morrissey are starting a new venture together: NBC’s AMERICAN SONG CONTEST.

In the new competition series—inspired by EUROVISION SONG CONTEST—56 musical acts (representing each U.S. state, territory, and Washington D.C.) perform original songs, hoping to move from the Qualifying Rounds (kicking off Monday, March 21 at 8/7c) to the Semi Finals to the Grand Final.

But with each episode being produced live, the already-established relationship between Clarkson (who is co-hosting with Snoop Dogg) and Morrissey is already coming in handy.

“[We have an] amazing shorthand at this point,” Clarkson told reporters.

“Honestly, [we have] trust,” Morrissey added. “It is so important that there’s trust in a show with all people, whether it’s executive producers Christer [Björkman] and Anders [Lenhoff, who also produced EUROVISION] and [executive producer] Ben [Silverman] trying to find someone that they can trust that’s going to help bring their vision of this show and treat it as if it were their own, whether it’s someone like Kelly trusting this is a new season show, who are the people behind it and how will she be put out there, and for me in the production.”

“It’s eight weeks of two hours live,” she continued. “Not everybody walking down the street can do that. And [Kelly is] somebody who will really get the spirit of the show…[she] legitimately knows the format, [is] a fan of it.”

In fact, Clarkson—who first discovered EUROVISION after touring overseas post-AMERICAN IDOL win—was so enthused about NBC’s version of the series, she started offering suggestions before she signed on.

“We were shooting THE VOICE, and I let all THE VOICE coaches know that the show is happening, and I would be doing it,” Morrissey recalled. “And Kelly was, like, ‘Oh, my God. Wait. EUROVISION in America? That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard of.’… She’s sending ideas in. I mean, honest to God, I couldn’t come to a taping without her mentioning it: ‘I just have to tell you, I was thinking about it again. This is going to be great.’”

“I was very excited, because I think it’s a really cool thing…it’s very interesting that this is actually the oldest show, but it’s a fresh idea in the sense that we’ve never heard of it being about the song,” Clarkson noted. “[In other shows,] it’s always about a vocalist [saying], ‘Oh, I can sing.’ This is a different artist’s perspective, and we’ve never really had this. And that is exciting it’s about the song, because I don’t know if you all listen to radio, but sometimes it doesn’t seem about the song—it just seems about what’s going to make you happy for two seconds, and then you move on to the next. I’m excited to hear things that, literally, I want to be listening to for years [to come], and that’s what great songs do.”

Clarkson also emphasized that the real-life bond she has with Morrissey is helping them navigate what ACS is and can be.

“Let me touch on the trust thing—it’s so key for artists, too,” she acknowledged. “Yes, I’m excited about the idea, but, also, what I’m excited about is I trust this woman. I trust that she’s going to take care of me. I trust that I can have a good time…especially with me and Blake [Shelton] on THE VOICE, it’s very easy for us to let our guard down and have a good time because we are in a safe environment. Everyone is family there, and that’s what we are carrying over. I’ve already shot some stuff for ASC, and I know the crew…So it’s a very important thing to have those established relationships, because you are going to get better artists. You are going to get a better version of us in a more open and a more honest and fun and loving [set], because we feel safe in that environment that everyone is family and no one is going to try and do anything. Because on some productions, it’s not that case.”

Clarkson was also enthusiastic about working with Snoop, who previously worked with the duo on season 20 of THE VOICE as the Mega Mentor.

“I love Snoop; I loved working with him on THE VOICE,” she gushed. “We worked really well together, and the thing I loved most about him is that he really took his time listening and taking in each performance. Honestly, you only see the edited version on TV, but…our day, there was a huge technical difficulty on stage that had never happened in the history of working on THE VOICE, and, of course, it happened to Snoop. So we were there for hours, and he still took the time to really invest. He really cared, and he gave really solid feedback. He was into it, and you can really tell, and America can tell.“

“While we are from different areas, we both really love people succeeding,” she continued. “We both really love watching people nail it. We both really love supporting other artists, and he’s just fun to work with. So I know we might seem like the odd couple, but we get along well. And, honestly, I remember talking to Audrey, like, ‘Man, okay. So a co-host—is it going to be Snoop? Because I really want to do it with Snoop.’…I’m really excited about it, and I think that it’s also a pretty good representation of us standing there because he covers different music. He’s done pop. He’s done rap. He’s done all of these other things, and I’ve done country and pop and all of these other things. So we like a lot of different styles of music…[On the show,] people are seeing different languages, different styles, different everything. It’s really cool.”

AMERICAN SONG CONTEST, Mondays, 8/7c, NBC

RELATED:

• AMERICAN SONG CONTEST: Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg Set as Hosts

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.