100 songs of the decade: Catch My Breath – Kelly Clarkson

Written by: Kelly Clarkson, Jason Halbert and Eric Olson
Produced by: Sound Kollectiv
Album: Greatest Hits: Chapter One
UK release: November 2012
UK chart peak: 51

Being an unapologetic Kelly Clarkson stan, I adored this when it was first released; but it didn’t become one of my absolute favourites of hers until I turned 30, and now it’s one of Those Special Songs, yaknow?

On Catch My Breath – released to accompany the Greatest Hits: Chapter One compilation in 2012 – Kelly looks back at her notorious troubles with assorted behind-the-scenes bellends, boldly declaring: “I won’t spend the rest of my life catching my breath, letting it go, turning my cheek for the sake of the show”.

Instead she’ll be “laughing hard with the windows down, leaving footprints all over town” and “keeping faith karma comes around”. I FELT THAT!!!

This is the second Kelly song on the 100 Songs list. There is… more than one still to come ?

• I’ll be writing about my favourite 100 pop songs of the decade; one a day for the last 100 days of 2019. They’re in no particular order, except the Top 10 – which will (obviously) come in late December.
• See the full list so far here.
• You can follow the rolling, daily-updated playlist below, or here.