After Kelly Clarkson welcomed the Jonas Brothers to NBC’s Songs & Stories last week in the 2025 TV schedule, none other than Gloria Estefan joined the first American Idol champion this week to talk about her life and career. Having seen the On Your Feet! jukebox musical based on her story, I was excited to hear from the music legend herself and, of course, hear her duet with Clarkson. I wasn’t disappointed by how fantastic the two women sounded together, but I wasn’t prepared for the awestruck look on Clarkson’s face that I absolutely love.
The two women performed several songs together during Gloria Estefan’s installment of Songs & Stories, which will be available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription. Kelly Clarkson shared that the song she was most excited for was “Mi Tierra” (despite being nervous that she’d screw up the Spanish lyrics), and “Get On Your Feet” was the first of the episode. I was prepared for the first to be my favorite, but then the two divas got to “Turn the Beat Around” and won my heart for the night.
Like Kelly Clarkson, I also didn’t realize that “Turn the Beat Around” had been performed by Vicki Sue Robinson before Gloria Estefan recorded her own version. The women’s voices melded beautifully, and I’d love to have all of their duets released just to listen to on repeat. For “Turn the Beat Around,” their performance also needs to be seen to be fully appreciated with Estefan’s husband and family sitting in the audience. Take a look:
Gloria and Kelly with Vicki Sue Robinson’s Turn The Beat Around đ #NBCSongsAndStories with Kelly Clarkson TONIGHT | NBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/tPRMW0nGcjAugust 27, 2025
Kelly Clarkson’s expressions may be somewhat understated as a TV and music pro, but she seemed more awestruck by Estefan than she was by the Jonas Brothers last week despite them performing the song that mentions her name. She also seemed more comfortable singing with the music legend for “Turn the Beat Around,” after appearing a little stiffer during “On Your Feet” as their first song of the night. All in all, I found it very endearing to see THE Kelly Clarkson looking like she couldn’t believe her luck to perform with Gloria Estefan. She was even up out of her seat at the very end.
Since Clarkson has been demonstrating her versatility as a singer with her “Kellyoke” segments on her talk show and even her Las Vegas residency, seeing her sing on Songs & Stories was just lovely. As far as I’m concerned, her voice blended wonderfully with Estefan’s, and I’m not sure that any of the remaining guests could do any better as the four-part series continues. But we can find out!
The next episode of Songs & Stories airs on Tuesday, September 2 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, with Kelly Clarkson welcoming Teddy Swims onto the stage, presumably to break down his career and turn some of his biggest hits into duets. The fourth and final installment will showcase Lizzo.
