All hail the new monarch of the wishful thinkers, her majesty Kelly Clarkson! Performing on her daytime program The Kelly Clarkson Show for the Wednesday (May 4) installment of Kellyoke, the three-time Grammy winner dusted off one of the crown jewels of ’90s classic hits — “King of Wishful Thinking” by Go West.
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Clarkson and her band Y’all were joined by a regal trio of horn players, who at one point took over the song for a small but mighty feature. But only one musician on the stage could reign supreme, and by changing the song’s original lyrics to say “queen” instead of “king,” it was the Voice coach/American Song Contest host who came out on top.
“I’ll pretend my ship’s not sinking/ And I’ll tell myself I’m over you,” she sang. “‘Cause I’m the queen of wishful thinking.”
Released in 1990, “King of Wishful Thinking” is Go West’s most well-known song, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 of August that year. The track was also used in the film Pretty Woman — starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere — and also included on the soundtrack. The song was later included in the British pop duo’s 1992 album, Indian Summer.
The classic tune was revived once again in February 2018, when Jimmy Kimmel and Paul Rudd recreated the duo’s music video shot-for-shot for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“King of Wishful Thinking” isn’t the only nostalgic tune Clarkson has been taking on recently for her Kellyoke segment. She’s covered Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart” — a remix of several of the iconic singer’s songs from his earlier years — as well as Toni Braxton’s ’90s hit “Breathe Again.”
See Kelly Clarkson be coronated as the queen of wishful thinking with her Go West cover below:
