So it has happened, “Stay With me” is working its way into becoming a standard from karaoke bars, to Piano Bars, the gorgeous song has emerged from the depths of loneliness to become a singalong, a simple one as well, “won’t you stay with me, you’re all I need…” and, er, ah screw it “stay with me just stay with me just stay with me”.
If Sam Smith’s tone suggest there won’t be much staying by any one anywhere, it sounds like a plea ignored, that isn’t what it becomes in the hands of the world around us. It becomes an anthem of requisition: a staking of claim, and if the song is sung blue, the hope is held high and never more so than on this terrific cover by Kelly Clarkson who has emerged as the Greatest American Idol alum this side of Jennifer Hudson.
Recorded at Symphony Park on October 18th, 2014, Kelly gets every ounce of the song and shares it right back with her audience, as if their voices are raised together in a hopefulness not actual written in at all. This isn’t actually Clarkson’s gift, she is another torch singer stomping the country side of love, but here with a song that doesn’t belong to her, Clarkson invites us all in.
Grade: B+
