Kelly Clarkson cries mid-concert days before Brandon Blackstock’s death: video

Clarkson previously revealed that she wrote the song about Blackstock. She released the catchy track in 2015 when they were still married.

However, following their contentious divorce in 2020, the Grammy winner famously changed the lyrics — and reflected on the editing process during last month’s performance.

“I’ve never rewritten a song more and I probably never will,” she explained to fans. “I wrote this song with a lot of hope and projection for happiness and better than what was happening. And then, well, life set in.”

The former “Voice” coach “had to change the lyrics” because singing the original rendition was “embarrassing” and not “fun” for her.

However, Clarkson now thinks the change sounded “a little angry” for her liking.

“I just wanted to explain how it feels now. I’m 43. I’ve done some therapy, and I changed the lyrics now and I think it’s perfect. I promise. I’m not gonna change it again,” she noted.

“It just represents, kind of, I don’t know, I feel like we grow up, right?” the “Kelly Clarkson Show” host continued. “And this is the more grown-up version of it.”

When Clarkson found herself emotional once more, she turned her back to the audience and tried “to pull it all together.”

She fought back tears and exclaimed, “Oh, s–t. Let’s make it happen. Screw it, let’s just sing it. This is ‘Piece by Piece.’”

In the tweaked lyrics, Clarkson changed the “he” pronouns to “I” as she sang about someone “collecting [her] up off the ground” and “filling the holes” her father “burned” in her.

Instead of singing about a partner who “takes care” of her, she crooned, “I’m learning every day / How to love me / I let go of the shame / That you taught me.”

She concluded the chorus — initially about a “kind … man” and a “father [who] could stay,” by singing, “Piece by piece, I restored my faith / A heart can still beat, even if it breaks.”

Clarkson abruptly canceled her residency dates last week due to Blackstock being “ill” — only for news to break one day later that the 48-year-old had lost a years-long battle to skin cancer.

The singer, who shared daughter River, 11, and son Remington, 9, with Blackstock, has yet to comment publicly on his passing.

Social media users praised Clarkson’s emotional performance after the fact, with one pointing out, “She did this knowing Brandon’s time was coming to an end and her kid’s hearts were going to break and she would be there for them to carry them through.”

Another gushed, “Knowing she was singing this knowing her children’s father was dying hits different.”