Kelly Clarkson Defends Cover of Tokio Hotel Song

Kelly Clarkson is having an amazing year. She’s happily married; a new mom to daughter River Rose; and her seventh album, Piece by Piece, is dropping March 3. Unfortunately, some people in social media are trying to rain on her parade: Earlier this week, Clarkson released the song “Run Run Run” off her upcoming set. The track, which features John Legend, is actually a cover of a song by Tokio Hotel.

Unbelievable as it may seem, as it turns out, Clarkson claims to have never even heard the German pop band’s version of the song until now. She tweeted on Friday, “Wow, just heard tokio hotel version of Run Run Run! So great! Had never heard that before?! Some fans brought this to my attention.”

This announcement ruffled many feathers, and the mean tweets started flowing, as it also appears that the guys won’t receive writing credits on Clarkson's album.

Clarkson was quick to defend herself, noting that she had previously only heard a piano version of the song, and that the band isn't receiving credit because they actually didn’t write it. She added that she didn't intend to and would never "rip off" another artist.

Clarkson's collaborator Legend also defended her, tweeting, "the history of music is filled with multiple artists singing versions of the same song. Congrats to the writers!!”

As for the two songs, there seems to be a split as to whose version is better, as they do sound an awful lot alike. However, music fans can probably agree: Both sound great!

As for Tokio Hotel, they’re just fine. They tweeted that they are so flattered, and that all their fans should calm down.

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