Kelly Clarkson has two people to thank for the inspiration behind her latest single, “Where Have You Been,” which just dropped on May 2: Martin Short and Meryl Streep.

During a May 1 appearance on her SiriusXM channel, The Kelly Clarkson Connection the 43-year-old revealed she had a revelation while watching Only Murders in the Building, the comedy-mystery series starring Short and Streep. One scene in particular gave her all the inspiration she needed to write “Where Have You Been” — as she hilariously explained.

“I’ve rarely done something like this but I was watching Only Murders in the Building — it’s Martin Short’s face. He says to Meryl Streep’s character in the show, ‘Where have you been?'” Clarkson said.

At that moment, Clarkson decided to pen a song that she wasn’t sure had ever been written before. She credits the on-screen romance between the two stars as the catalyst for creating the new tune.

“He’s like, in awe, and I was like, ‘Has there been a— has anyone written a song?'” she continued. “Because the song is happy. It’s like you found something that you thought was almost basically a unicorn and did not exist.”

Kelly Clarkson appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show Season 6 Episode BP105; Meryl Streep and Martin Short arrive at the Season 4 Premiere Of Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building” at Paramount Studios on August 22, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

So there you have it: We can credit two of the most iconic people in show business for being partially responsible for a new Clarkson track!

Fans can listen to Clarkson’s newest song here:

The host of The Kelly Clarkson Show doesn’t shy away from her fandom of the Only Murders in the Building and Short himself. The decorated comedic actor even played the banjo on Clarkson’s 2023 track, “I Hate Love.”

Kelly Clarkson reminisces about discovering her singing ability

How does someone like Clarkson realize they have a gift? Sometimes, all it takes is for someone to push you in the right direction.

During a November 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Clarkson spoke about her childhood, specifically when she discovered she was blessed with such an amazing voice.

“When did you first realize you could sing?” Jimmy Fallon asked Clarkson, who’d just joined Season 14 of The Voice at the time — a Season she would eventually win.

Kelly Clarkson during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Season 5, Episode 36 on October 31, 2017. Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC

“You know what? Everybody says, ‘Oh, when I was a baby, I knew.’ I didn’t,” she admitted to Fallon, adding with a laugh that she thinks it’s “total crap” when people claim to have sensed their singing talents from infancy.

“[I didn’t know I could sing] until I was like, 13,” she said. “I was actually singing in a hallway and this teacher was like, ‘You should try out for choir,'” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘That’s for nerds.’ And then I was like, ‘Well, if the shoe fits!’ So I joined.”

It was the best decision Clarkson could’ve made.