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Poor Kelly Clarkson. It seems like the girl just can't catch a break. Even though she's returned to her sugary pop sound after famously feuding with her label over artistic differences, she's still battling Sony-BMG over her latest single. And once again, when it comes to this feud, I am Team Kelly. I'm always Team Kelly.

We all remember what happened in 2007, when the original American Idol tried to shed her "America's sweetheart" image by going for a darker, edgier, grittier sound on her largely self-penned (and largely underrated) third album, My December, and a massive battle with Sony-BMG label honcho Clive Davis ensued. So for her recently released fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, Kelly got back in line and went back to pure pop, letting slick songwriters-for-hire like Sweden's Max Martin provide her with hits, hits, hits--like the record-breaking, "Since U Been Gone"-soundalike smash, "My Life Would Suck Without You." But her life is to starting to suck again, it seems--as the album's third single, "Already Gone," has created yet another Kelly controversy.

Apparently, according to an interview she did on Canadian radio this past weekend, Kelly fought once again with her label over "Already Gone," a song she co-wrote with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder (the Midas-touched man behind such radio smashes as Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love," Jordin Sparks' "Battlefield," Jennifer Lopez's "Do It Well," and Natasha Bedingfield's "Love Like This," among other hits). She told Canada's CBC that she battled to keep the ballad from being included on All I Ever Wanted after she realized it bore an uncanny resemblance to Beyonce's "Halo"--a song that, perhaps not coincidentally, was also written by Ryan Tedder.

Compare and contrast the two songs here:

Kelly even claimed that only when the album was completed did she get to hear the final recording--and it was then that she noticed that that the same backing track from "Halo" was used on "Already Gone." She then phoned Ryan Tedder in a rage, telling him: "I don't understand. Why would you do that? No one's going to be sitting at home, thinking, 'Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyonce and Kelly the same track to write to.' No, they're just going to be saying I ripped someone off."

But despite her protests, All I Ever Wanted was released as-is, without her permission and with "Already Gone" still on the tracklisting. Which is something Kelly never wanted.

"I fought and fought [to stop the song's release]," she said in the Canadian interview. "In the end, they're releasing it without my consent...It sucks, but it's one of those things I have no control over. I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it."

Now the song is this season's So You Think You Can Dance exit theme, and it's Kelly's official third single, too--two other high-profile label decisions she's probably not very happy about.

It is true that "Already Gone" and "Halo" are extremely similar. Even Kelly is not denying that. But as a longtime Kelly supporter, I urge fans to try to appreciate the song on its own merits. I fully believe her side of the story here, and would hate the dubious judgment and lack of support of her record label to once again potentially derail her career just as she has successfully launched a full-scale "comeback." (Although, of course, I never thought she ever went away.)

And once again, I commend Kelly for being so outspoken in the media, regardless of the risks involved. I love it that Kelly Clarkson never keeps her mouth shut, whether it's to sing with that amazing voice of hers or to speak her mind.

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