Jake Hoot and Kelly Clarkson Give First Live Performance of 'I Would've Loved You'

Jake Hoot stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show for an episode that aired this week to join host Kelly Clarkson for the live performance debut of their duet "I Would've Loved You" during the show's Wednesday, March 31 episode. The performance was part of Clarkson's daily "Kellyoke" segment and featured the two singers on stage with the show's band, both Hoot and Clarkson at their own mic stands spaced away from each other.

"I Would've Loved You" is a soaring ballad about someone who was wronged by their partner that allows both Hoot and Clarkson to show off their impressive vocals, which sounded just as flawless live as they do on the recorded version of the song. Clarkson coached Hoot to victory on Season 17 of The Voice, and Hoot shared on Instagram on Tuesday that he is "so grateful to @kellyclarkson for always being so supportive and kind since my time on [the show]!" The two artists were scheduled to perform the song on the show earlier this year, but the performance was postponed due to inclement weather in Nashville.

"I Would've Loved You" is the first single from Hoot's January EP, Love Out of Time, and was written by The Voice winner with Jamie Floyd and Lonestar's Dean Sams. "When we wrote it, I said, 'I think this would be awesome if we got Kelly to sing on this,'" Hoot recalled to Everything Nash. "When I was on The Voice, she said, 'Hey, let's do something together.' So I sent it to her and didn't hear anything. And then later on in the year, when we were seriously considering putting this on the album, I said, 'You know what? I'm just going to text her again,' because I had to ask her a couple of questions about other things."

When the 32-year-old originally sent Clarkson the song, she didn't have a chance to hear it, but once she did, she was fully on board. "She called me back immediately and she said, 'I want to shout this from the rooftops. Yes, I'm in,'" Hoot continued. "Like, let's get this done. And so trying to coordinate her incredibly busy schedule with mine, recording everything and then also a wedding coming up and then having to fly to LA to record, or having to send stuff out there, it just all worked perfectly."