93 Since U Been Gone

KELLY CLARKSON 2004

Swedish pop scientists Max Martin and

Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald wrote this indignant track with Pink in mind, but Clarkson’s A&R rep snatched it up for the first-ever American Idol. The result was a career-making hit that gave teen pop a feisty new template. When she first heard a rough demo of the song, Clarkson wasn’t sure it was right for her. “We amped up the track and made it a little more rockin’,” she told Rolling Stone of the sessions in Sweden with Martin and Dr. Luke. “But they didn’t know I was going to go an octave above on the chorus.”