Kelly Clarkson Says Her Label Blackmailed Her Into Working With Dr. Luke

Kelly Clarkson‘s thoughts on producer Dr. Luke? He’s “not a good person.”

Clarkson, who’s in the midst of having an unexpected hit with “Piece By Piece” after performing a stripped-down version of the song on American Idol two weeks ago, did a radio interview with Australia’s KIIS FM, and inevitably the subject of Dr. Luke came up.

“The last time I worked with him I only worked with him because literally I got blackmailed by my label,” Clarkson said. “It was a really hard time for me. They were like, ‘We will not put your album out if you don’t do this’.”

Kelly’s 2004 and 2005 hits “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes” were co-produced by Max Martin and Luke, with the former being the song that put Luke on the map of hit-making stardom. But it’s clear the singer wasn’t thrilled about going into the studio again with Luke to record chart-topping 2009 single “My Life Would Suck Without You.”

“He’s a talented dude but he’s just lied a lot,” she said. “I’ve run into a couple really bad situations. Musically, it’s been really hard for me because he will just lie to people. It’s like ‘What?’ It makes the artist look bad. He’s difficult to work with, kind of demeaning, it’s kind of unfortunate. People are like well you’ve worked with Max [Martin] and Luke and I’m like Max and Luke are very different. Obviously the dude is a talented guy but character-wise, no. I only worked with him – even the last time I worked with him – because literally I got blackmailed by my label. They were like we will not put your album out if you don’t do this.”

Still, Clarkson went ahead with the session because, she says, “We have a whole crew to support, people that depend on us for their livelihood so sometimes you have to make decisions that you just have to swallow that pill.”

Luke is currently in a legal standoff with singer Kesha, who claims the producer drugged and sexually assaulted her over the course of their working relationship. Clarkson was one of the first artists to chime in on Twitter in February when Kesha was denied an injunction to free her from her contract with Luke’s label Kemosabe Records.

Despite her own unpleasant experiences with the producer, Clarkson said during the KIIS FM interview that Dr Luke “never did anything like that [alleged sexual assault] to me.”

[Via NME]

What do you make of Kelly’s comments about Dr. Luke? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!