IF YOU searched in the dictionary for a definition of pop sensation, you might very well find two words. Kelly Clarkson.

She’s the original American Idol, two-time Grammy winner, sometime actress and double platinum album singer. It doesn’t guarantee people know who she is, however.

“People always come up to me and say ‘Oh my God, you won Idol’” gushes Kelly in her beguiling Texan twang. “I go ‘Yes, I’m that girl!’ and they say ‘You’re that country singer’“.” She pauses. “I say I’m a huge Carrie Underwood fan – but that’s not me.”

Of course, she shares little with her fellow Idol alumni lookswise or anything else. Even soppy post-Idol fare, she wrestled her sound into something distinctively Kelly Clarkson-shaped. Then she ripped though the charts with gustsy self-penned hits like My Life Would Suck Without You.

Born to a poor Baptist family, Kelly’s all-encompassing work ethic has brought rewards and sacrifices. She bought a 60- acre plot of land in the Lone Star state and installed her family on it and they all work for her. “My brother looks after my land and animals, I’ve got a lot of horses and dogs, rescue animals, and my sister takes care of the house and runs the fan club. It’s a big thing to run the Kelly Clarkson thing.”

The “Kelly Clarkson thing”, she admits, hasn’t helped her love life.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she says frankly. “ I went though a stage three years ago where I wanted a boyfriend. But it’s not a very stable life because I’m not at home.

“I’m pretty happy so I don’t miss it. I do get hit on by guys but it’s always the weirdy guys, the guys you don’t want to ask you who ask you out, it’s always the tools. Guys who want to go out with Kelly Clarkson.”

Coupled with the fact a large chunk of her fanbase is gay, her single status has had rumours swirling about her sexuality for some time.

The issue baffles her. “I don’t know why (I’ve got a big gay following),” she shrugs.