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“Now, to join me on stage, you’re favorite L.A. girl and my best friend, Katharine McPhee!”
I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the Staples Center stage. All I could see was Kellie standing there with a huge smile on her face holding her arms out for me to give her a celebratory hug for her tremendous performance opening our tour.
As I embraced her, suddenly the massive crowd I heard backstage cheering and yelling for Kellie came into view. I felt the need to hold on to Kellie for one extra second to compose myself.
“Kat, let go of me. I can barely breathe.”
“Sorry, Kellie, I guess we should start our duet now.”
I let go of her and gave the signal to the band to start the music for the first of our two duets, It’s Not What You Think.
Kellie was a blast to sing with. She has such a naturally vibrant personality and it automatically brings the same thing out in anyone who is around her. I could feel her energy calming my nerves. The only problem was that personality of hers made it difficult for me to not laugh while I was singing.
Fortunately, we chose two up-tempo songs to do together. There was no way I could have sang a serious, slow song with Kellie. It would have been impossible for me to keep a straight face. Our second song came to an end and it was time for my part of the show.
“Everybody, could you please give a big hand to Miss Kellie Pickler!”
Kellie waved at the adoring crowd and then to my surprise did a somersault on her way off stage much like she had done a few times during the Idol tour last year. The crowd absolutely loved it which prompted Kellie to run back out to the front of the stage where I was standing and in her silliest Southern voice said, “Thank y’all for coming to see me perform but now the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Here’s the star of our show, KATHARINE MCPHEE!”
“Knock ’em dead, honey,” she said with a wink before she ran back off the stage.
I started my set with From Here To Forever, the most country sounding song off my album. It seemed like a good way to transition the show slowly from Kellie’s country vibe toward my more eclectic style. I gradually picked up the tempo by doing I’m On Your Side and then moved the show’s pace into overdrive by singing Persuade Me