Miss Independent

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"Miss Independent"

Single by Kelly Clarkson
from the album Thankful
Released	UK: August 25, 2003
Format	Airplay only
Recorded	2003
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:35
Label	RCA Records
Writer(s)	Kelly Clarkson Rhett Lawrence Christina Aguilera Matt Morris
Producer(s)	Rhett Lawrence
Certification	Gold
Chart positions
#3 (Australia) #6 (UK, Canada) #9 (US)
Kelly Clarkson singles chronology
"A Moment Like This" (2002)	"Miss Independent" (2003)	"Low" (2003)

"Miss Independent" is the second single (first in Australia and the UK) from pop rock singer, Kelly Clarkson's multi-platinum debut album, Thankful.

1 Song information
2 Chart success
3 Music video
4 Comprehensive charts
5 References

[edit] Song information

The single was co-written by Clarkson, Rhett Lawrence, Christina Aguilera, and Matt Morris and produced by Lawrence. The release of the song sparked some controversy. The producer and co-writer of the track, Lawrence, had originally given the song to Destiny's Child. After they did not record it, Aguilera was offered the song, and she began to co-write the track with Lawrence. Lawrence was later informed that Aguilera was not going to finish and use the song because she had found another rock style song that she preferred. Two years later, Lawrence played the song for Clarkson. They finished the lyrics and made new additions to the song, eventually using it as the first single from her upcoming long-delayed album Thankful. The producer was pleased because he had long believed that his song would be a hit when combined with a great singer (Destiny's Child, Aguilera, Clarkson). Although Lawrence was never in any way asked, informally or officially, to hold or save the song for Aguilera, Aguilera was not pleased that the track had been given to someone else, and at one point there was talk of a possible lawsuit. Fortunately, the matter was able to be settled. In an interesting turn of events, the rock style song Aguilera preferred two years earlier, entitled Fighter, was released in the U.S. as a single the same time as "Miss Independent," with "Miss Independent" becoming the more successful single.

In this rhythmic pop rock number, Clarkson describes a woman ("Miss Independent") who lets down her emotional barriers to fall in love.

[edit] Chart success

"Miss Independent" performed strongly on the Billboard charts, and managed to peak at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Moreover, it should be noted that the single came out at the time that the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay was changing to include fewer top-forty stations, and more R&B and rhythmic stations. The single also did not have a commercial release on vinyl or CD-single forms to give it a boost on the charts. The single was released as a digital download, and became a hit, peaking at number two on Hot Digital Tracks. However, digital downloads would not count towards the chart until 2005, thus they did not help her Hot 100 position. The song was a smash on top-forty radio formats, and peaked at number one for six weeks on Top 40 Mainstream and an equal six weeks on the Top 40 Tracks.

Internationally, the song was also a hit. In Canada, it reached a peak of number six, as it also did in the United Kingdom. In Australia, the song was incredibly popular, peaking at number three. "Miss Independent" ties with "Since U Been Gone" as Clarkson's highest peaking single in Australia to date.

[edit] Music video

The music video of "Miss Independent" shows Clarkson singing at a house party. Some believe that the complicated plot of the song is not translated into the video, and the video was met with some criticism. Some of the public was also unpleased with the fact that Clarkson had been forced to change her "girl next door" Texan image to become sexier for her first official video. However, due to its puzzling concept, the video appeared on the yearly MuchMusic program, Fromage (French for "cheese"). On this countdown composed of "cheesy" music videos, "Miss Independent" came second to Britney Spears' single, "Me Against the Music".

Another video was believed to have been made for the UK, however this video is just a T4 performance edited to look like a video. In it, Kelly is shown performing on top of a building with a cityscape background. The same US video was used to promote the single in the UK and Europe.

[edit] Comprehensive charts

Chart (2003)	Peak Position	Year End Position
UK Singles Chart	6	-
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	3	53 ^[1]
Canadian Singles Chart	6	-
Irish Singles Chart	11	-
World Chart Show	7	-
Billboard Hot 100	9	44
Top 40 Tracks	1	14
Top 40 Mainstream	1	-
Adult Top 40	14	31
Adult Contemporary	28	-
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1	5
Dutch Top 40	9	80 ^[2]