Céline Dion Crying over Kelly Clarkson's Cover Completed a 22-Year Redemption Arc: "I Can Quit Now"

As one does, Clarkson promptly responded with a public-facing video message of her own, where she opened up about how she felt like Dion's reaction to her cover redeemed her 19-year-old self.

"So, I got this video sent to me and it all flooded… I was working with Jason [Halbert], my musical director here at the show… we were actually doing stuff for Kellyokes, and all of a sudden I get this thing from my manager and I cried," Clarkson said. "Because it was Céline Dion saying that she saw my performance and she knows my name, so that's cool."

"Twenty-two years ago on American Idol I got laryngitis," the inaugural winner of the television singing competition reflected, adding that everyone had all gotten sick at the same time and that, despite her illness, she had to perform Dion's "I Surrender," a challenging ballad from 2002's A New Day Has Come. "I bawled that night because I'm just mortified that Céline Dion is going to see this performance. I could [not] have cared less about votes at that point. I just didn't want to see Céline Dion see or hear this because it was so bad, because I was so sick."

Now, 22 years later, Clarkson got to do a Dion performance that she was proud to stand behind. "I got to honour someone who is such a hero to me vocally, like she is one of my main inspirations of why I'm a singer," the singer effused. "Like, I can quit now. In life."

Watch Clarkson's video, as well as her rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" below.