"Duets" star Kelly Clarkson will help make dreams come true on her new ABC series when she sings with contestants, but she's already had her dream duet.
"It was Reba!" Clarkson told The Huffington Post on the red carpet for the ABC/EW party. Clarkson and country superstar Reba McEntire are both headlining shows on ABC. "Yeah, we're like family. Not label-mates, but network-mates -- it's awesome," she said.
Clarkson's fellow "Duets" mentor Robin Thicke had a more romantic duet in mind.
"My dream duet would have to be my wife," Thicke said about wife, actress Paula Patton. "Any time she wants to put on lingerie, run around and sing with me, I'm ready for it."
Why lingerie? Well, Thicke said, "it makes for a better duet."
Both Thicke and Clarkson are reality singing competition veterans. Fox's "American Idol" launched Clarkson to fame and she appeared as a mentor, along with Thicke, on NBC's "The Voice" this season. But all that experience wasn't that useful, according to Clarkson.
"Honestly, I thought I was going to be way more prepared, but this show is a completely different animal behind the scenes," she said. "It's just -- it's harder. It's a lot more work for all the stars on it because we're performing with two different people, plus we're doing extra things on the show with each other and it's like you're trying to get them through the competition, and thinking strategy because you're trying to make a great artistic show. It's a lot of work."
Thicke said being in the music business was the best preparation.
"I think the thing that prepares [me] for 'Duets' is I've been making music for 20 years and that I love it and it's my life," he said. "We all take the music very seriously, once you've lived it that way, you just take it seriously. And then you also remember how much fun it is to do it. We're having a lot of fun, but we're also trying to make it good, entertaining, television."
Tell us: Are you excited for "Duets"?