Kelly Clarkson Will Release a Soul Record in 2017

After teasing a major announcement with a series of performances on Facebook Live since Monday, Kelly Clarkson announced Friday that she signed a long-term record deal with Atlantic Records, and that she’ll be recording a soul album.

This means two firsts for Clarkson. One: she finally got to choose her label, and two: she will realize her long dream of creating an entire soulful album, which will be released in 2017. Over the course of her career with RCA since she won the first season of American Idol in 2002, she’s won three Grammy awards. About RCA, she explained, “it was kind of an arranged marriage… it was awesome sometimes, sometimes it was rough.” She told fans that she’s thrilled with the team at Atlantic, saying, “I’m so excited because they want to make the album that I’ve been dying to make since I was a kid.” To celebrate, she sang “Stand By Me” in her swaggy living room, which has an indeterminate number of total of indoor columns.

Watch the whole announcement here.