“They don’t all come out like that, though; usually it takes forever,” the daytime talk show host admitted

Kelly Clarkson performing in episode BP163 on The Kelly Clarkson Show

Kelly Clarkson in 2025.Credit : Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal

NEED TO KNOW

Kelly Clarkson told a fan at a taping for The Kelly Clarkson Show that her festive anthem “Underneath the Tree” took her the shortest amount of time to write out of all of her songs
The 2013 Christmas song was included on ASCAP’s Top 10 New Classic Holiday Songs list published in 2024
Clarkson created the song with producer Greg Kurstin, who also produced her 2012 hit “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”

One person waited a lifetime to ask Kelly Clarkson which song from her storied 23-year career as a recording artist she’s written the fastest.

In an “Ask Kelly Anything” video published on June 12 on The Kelly Clarkson Show’s YouTube channel, someone asked the daytime talk show host, 43, which song took her the shortest amount of time to write.

“A Christmas song. It was ‘Underneath the Tree.’ I was working with Greg Kurstin in the studio,” Clarkson said of the music producer who helped her make her 2012 hit “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and other hits.

“I ordered sushi and when it arrived I had written it,” the three-time Grammy winner continued. “I think because I really love Christmas I write them really quickly for Christmas — because they feel good, because you can be a little cheesy, you know? You don’t have to worry about being cool, which honestly that’s not a concern generally ever because I’m not.”

V

“Underneath the Tree” was a huge hit for Clarkson, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard’ Hot 100 singles chart. It topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, holding the pinnacle position for four weeks.

Elaborating on how the holiday hit came to be, Clarkson said on her show that Kurstin, 56, “sent me home with a little piano thing and we kind of started, not the idea of it, but just kind of the wall of sound for Christmas.”

She added that “it’s a really cool sound at Christmas. It feels nostalgic.”

“They don’t all come out like that, though; usually it takes forever,” Clarkson admitted of her songwriting process. “But that one was quick.”

“Underneath the Tree” — from Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red album — also topped the most recent list of Top 10 ASCAP New Classic Holiday Songs published by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). And in an all-time list of Top 25 ASCAP Holiday Songs, Clarkson and Kurstin’s holiday song slid into the rankings at No. 24.