Kelly Clarkson fears she has become an overzealous "momager" to her new protegee Chevel Shepherd following her second straight win as a mentor on U.S. talent show The Voice.
The Because of You hitmaker, who shot to fame herself as the first American Idol champion back in 2002, triumphed on Tuesday night (18Dec18) as the 16 year old from New Mexico blew viewers away with her powerhouse country vocals, beating runner-up Chris Kroeze, who was part of Blake Shelton's team of hopefuls.
It marked Kelly's second consecutive victory after also coming out on top earlier this year (18) with season 14 winner Brynn Cartelli, however, the pop star admits she has been obsessing over Chevel so much, she's turned into a stage mum.
"My team calls me that (a momager) by the way," she said, according to U.S. news show Entertainment Tonight. "They never did that with Brynn but with her, they're like, 'You need to calm down. You're, like, singing words...,' and I'm like, 'I think I am a momager.'"
Kelly confesses she's also been regularly texting the teen to remind her to enjoy her journey to stardom, and she even runs her draft messages by her husband, music manager Brandon Blackstock, to check that she's not going over the top.
"I always look at my husband and I'm like, 'Is this too much? Is this? This is long,'" Clarkson said. "I just want to... make sure the whole time she's having fun. Like, even at 36 years old, it is so hard sometimes, not just in this industry - in any industry - to just have fun at what you're doing and who you're working with."
For now, Chevel insists she has no problem with Kelly bombarding her with text messages, because it's all so exciting for her.
"I love it," she smiled. "I'm like, 'Oh, mum, Kelly texted me.'"
The young singer is also hoping to score a duet with Clarkson for her debut album.
"We talked about it last night actually," she told U.S. news show Access Hollywood on Wednesday. "I wanna put together like, a classic country album.
"I'm gonna go home for a little bit, be a normal teenager, and then start working right away because I'm super excited to put out my own country music."
