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To see Kelly Clarkson greet her American Idol classmate Jim Verraros is like watching high school kids reunite at the end of the summer--they hug, they lift each other off their feet, they clap for each other and say, "Yea!" The Advocate sent Verraros--who came out in the magazine at the end of 2002--to sit down with Clarkson to talk about her whirlwind existence since she won the show's competition last fall. With a self-titled album, a movie (From Justin to Kelly, costarring Idol runner-up Justin Guarini), and a tour all heading her way in the next few months, the Burleson, Tex., native remained bursting with energy and enthusiasm as she sat down to talk about life, music, and her devoted gay following.--Alonso Duralde

Jim Verraros: You know that gay men adore you. What are your views about being out?

Kelly Clarkson: It's sad, putting homosexuality ... there are other things where people aren't themselves. There are other areas in life where people hide who they are because they feel it's not good enough, that it's not the norm or something like that. Putting homosexuality aside, there's tons of stuff like that with people. Like, I think that you're an amazing figure for people, especially young people, because you aren't afraid. My few [gay] friends that I have still haven't told their parents. Because it's a hard thing to do, you know. They're two guys, you know, and their dads aren't cool with that, so they can't do that.

Not a lot of people that I can speak for--at least that I know come from small towns--are so open-minded about homosexuality.

Well, it's small, but it's not, like, Podunk. Like, I mean, I grew up with ... there's many different varieties in our town, and we're very accepting. Our whole thing is about character, and with that comes being open-minded. We come in all different colors and different varieties. You can't force everybody to be the same, or else the world wouldn't be cool at all.

I don't know if you know this, but you are a huge, huge influence on girls right now, especially your age.

[Laughs] That's scary!

No, no, it's a good thing. You're loaded with personality, you're you don't care.

And that's the one thing-like, I could care less about all the fame and stuff like I hope what comes up is my music and the fact that I hate that girls feel like they have to put on makeup every time they go out. And I had a lot of that growing up. Like, trying out, doing auditions--I didn't make plenty of auditions because I didn't weigh a hundred pounds. And I weigh 130 pounds, and I don't think that's heavy at all. And I am very curvy, and I love it. Like, I hate that girls think they have to fit a certain stereotype. And the same thing with guys. I just hope that it comes out. We do come up as role models for young kids--I hope that it comes out as "Be yourself." And that's what I loved about American Idol; that was the one thing that I loved, because I was totally myself the whole time.

What's up with the movie, actually? I don't know what the hell it is. I keep saying, "It's Justin and Kelly doing their thing, it's a story of ..."

It has nothing to do with American Idol. That's a start.

As much as you can say before it comes out--which I know is June 13--tell us what you can about it.

It's a fun movie. And it's definitely geared toward the younger audiences. It's about this party guy--he's, like, the mayor of spring break, him and his two friends. Or basically, one of his friends. His other friend is, like, the intellectual--he's so funny. He's my favorite character in the movie. And the three of them are coming from Philly. Our characters aren't anything like us. My character's so ...

Different from who you are?

Me, yes. I'm very, like--you know--I'm very spontaneous and, like, wild and loud. And my character's very much the mediator, the middle--I have the vixen friend and then the funny, outspoken, loud friend.

Let's talk about your album.

When's it out?

April 15.

What can we expect? I know that when we were on tour, we talked about your album and what you wanted to do, and I listened to your stuff and I'd tell you what I thought. It was a huge variety of stuff, ranging from ballads to, like, a rock feel to your songs. What can we expect from your single? I grew up in an environment with two different parents who liked two different types of music, so I grew up with Guns N' Roses and Etta James and Billie Holiday. So anyway, my album is very much different from any other album out right now--like, any album that I've seen. It's very much like a burned CD--like, you burn your favorite songs on. Not that they're all your favorite songs, but there's rock, there's soulful songs. It's very different. But at the same time, it ties in very well. It's not, like, country-rap.