This is just for fun since I can’t lie about just adoring Kelly Clarkson in general… Thanks to AfterEllen this gem of Kelly singing Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” made it on to my radar.

Back when I was coming out (this is essentially one of those walking 15 miles in the snow up hill to school stories) we didn’t have out queer artists like Mary Lambert whose songs about loving women actually made it on to the Top 40 radio station. We didn’t even have Katy Perry singing about kissing a girl and liking it (whatever her motivation for writing that song was).

That said, the closest things got back then was when a female artist sang a song written from a straight male perspective and she didn’t change the pronouns to “he” or “boyfriend,” or “husband.” Cyndi Lauper’s cover of Prince’s “When You Were Mine” and 10,000 Maniacs front woman Natalie Merchant covering John Prine’s “Hello in There” are two that come to mind that I pretty much played on a loop while pining for the popular girl. So in the spirit of honoring my young gay self, here’s Kelly singing “Girl Crush” without changing the pronouns.