WENN

Kelly Clarkson “laughed” when she was asked to be sexier as she kicked off her music career.

The 35-year-old singer first shot to fame when she won U.S. TV talent show American Idol in 2002, and has since gone on to become one of the music industry’s biggest names.

Kelly’s down-to-earth attitude has attracted many fans over the years and the mother-of-two told Rolling Stone magazine that her feisty personality really came into play when she started out in the business.

“I was shoved magazines of girls naked with guitars, and they were telling me that’s what I’m competing with, and I was like, ‘I’m not competing with that’,” Kelly told the publication. “And they always wanted, like, the sexier songs ” not even good sexy songs ” because that sells. And I’d go, ‘Did you even watch me on TV? I’m the girl that didn’t wear make-up.’ So all that stuff was shoved in my face non-stop, and I would just laugh, honestly, which probably p**sed them off.”

Kelly released her latest album Meaning Of Life last year – her first offering on her new label Atlantic Records. The record is somewhat different in style compared to what Kelly’s fans are used to, but the singer insists that as long as she has a connection to her sound, that’s all that matters.

“I never record a song I don’t feel I can relate to in some sense, that I can’t make work in my world. And that’s why I’ve really p**sed people off, because there have been some real doozies sent my way that I was like, ‘No,’ and then my project gets sat on,” she explained. “But you have to put your foot down at some point and go, ‘I have one life and I don’t want to live it like this, and it’s cool if you feel like my ship is sinking, but I just want to make sure I’m at the helm, that if I’m going to go down, it’s because of myself.’ Compromising is OK, but compromising who you are as a human is not.”