THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

870-Kelly Clarkson-Since U Been Gone.

2005-Number 5 single.

Best Bit-At 0.43. Ever wondered why so many songs from the early part of the 21st Century sounded similar? It was the fault of Max Martin, and Dr Luke.

Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born on April 24th, 1982, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, she is a singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. Her big breakthrough came in 2002 when she became the first winner of the inaugural television series ‘American Idol: The Search for a Superstar.’ Immediately after winning ‘American Idol,’ she was signed to a record deal with ‘RCA Records,’ with the American record producer Clive Davis enlisted to work with her on her debut Album.

Kelly Clarkson at the time of writing has sold in excess of 28 million Albums, and 54 million singles worldwide, her discography includes 10 studio Albums released between 2003-2023, and 53 singles issued between 2002-2023, there is also one official compilation Album, and one official remix Album available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, she had had 18 top 40 hits, with three of those tracks reaching Number 1, ‘Since U Been Gone’ peaked at Number 2. In the UK, Kelly Clarkson has charted on 17 occasions, with ‘My Life Would Suck Without You,’ from 2009, making Number 1. Kelly Clarkson has also appeared in four films between 2003-2020, and was a judge on the American singing reality competition television series ‘The Voice,’ between 2018-2021, before returning to the show in 2023. Clarkson has also hosted the American daytime television variety talk show ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show,’ since 2019.

‘Since U Been Gone’ was co-written by Max Martin (see also best songs 824 and 317) and Dr. Luke, (see also best songs 953-824 and 566) with that duo also being the songs producers. ‘Since U Been Gone’ was the first of five singles to be released from Kelly Clarkson’s second studio Album ‘Breakaway,’ from November 2004. By 2004 Max Martin, and Dr Luke had written and produced many ‘Pop’ hits, and they were now wanting to produce a song with more of a ‘Rock’ influence. Both Martin and Luke had been listening to, and admiring ‘Alternative Rock,’ and ‘Indie Rock,’ and were particularly attracted to the song ‘Maps,’ by the American Indie Rock band ‘Yeah Yeah Yeahs.’ Dr Luke has said,’That was a conscious move by Max and myself, because we were listening to Alternative and Indie music … I said, ‘Ah, I love this song,’ and Max was like, ‘If they would just write a damn pop chorus on it!’ It was driving him nuts, because that indie song was sort of on six, going to seven, going to eight, the chorus comes … and it goes back down to five. It drove him crazy. And when he said that, it was like, light bulb. ‘Why don’t we do that, but put a big chorus on it?” It worked.’ ‘Since U Been Gone,’ and ‘Maps’ share many similarities, ‘Karen O’ who is the lead singer of ‘ Yeah Yeah Yeahs,’ and wrote ‘Maps’ has said noticing the similarity was, ‘like getting bitten by a poisonous varmint.’

‘Since U Been Gone’ had been written with ‘Pink’ (see also best songs 296) in mind, but she turned it down, it was then offered to Hilary Duff, but she rejected it, because she couldn’t reach the songs higher notes. Clive Davis then stepped in, and after much persuasion, as Martin and Luke were not keen on an ‘American Idol’ winner singing their song, they finally relented. Clarkson too initially was reluctant to record the song, as on first listen she thought it to be too ‘Poppy,’ as she was wanting to move her sound in to a more ‘Rock’ orientated style. Clarkson suggested to Martin and Luke that drums and a guitar should be added to the song, with the end result satisfying all three parties. Kelly Clarkson has said that the song is about a relationship turned sour, although it was going well at the very beginning.

‘Here’s the thing, we started out friends, it was cool but it was all pretend, yeah, yeah, since you been gone. You dedicated, you took the time, wasn’t long ’til I called you mine, yeah, yeah, since you been gone.’