The Kelly Clarkson Must Hear Christmas Song

An enduring anthem for the brokenhearted

I hung on each word as Kelly Clarkson vulnerably voiced her heartbreak. The lyrics to “Merry Christmas (To the One I Used to Know)” will draw universal tears from those who have lost in love.

I am one of them.

At the end of her performance on her recent holiday special, she visibly fought back emotion. The clip below will demonstrate her undeniable ability to pull you towards her truth while commiserating your own. As a writer, sometimes you inhale words and believe you can do better.

While others you wondrously absorb and wish you could have written. Clarkson tells the story of love and regret as only she could pen it. Letting you know she shares the grief-induced bruises within us.

And that typically magical times of the year are not exempt from pain.

This is an indelible anthem of the heart. Clarkson’s powerful pipes only add to the melodic melancholy. I could listen to her sing this again and again. It shares the tragic story of not only divorce but of the unexpected emotion it carries.

Two phrases keep resonating with me.

“Dancing with your ghost” and “The One I Used to Know.”

I bond with the person lost and the stranger found. Your spouse can become unrecognizable in divorce. So much so, you question if they truly existed. Or if they lived strictly in your misguided perception of them.

The cast thrown from your rose glasses.

And as Clarkson points out their ghost lingers. Emotional history demands it. You share the grandest moments of the heart, an eternal promise, babies born of love, and the power of these little beings to bind you…forever.

As the physical is replaced with a haunting apparition.