Backstage at the Maverik Center, just 20 minutes before Mat and Savanna Shaw went out and performed their first arena show on Dec. 5, the daddy-daughter duo had a conversation with Kelly Clarkson.
The Shaws had last chatted with the superstar in May — two months after their version of “The Prayer” went viral and their unexpected rise to fame was still relatively new. At that time, they were recording music in their closet, dubbed the “quarantine recording studio” (Clarkson mentioned that she also took advantage of the “great acoustics” in her bedroom closet to record her first song).
Seven months later, the Shaws have entered a professional recording studio, dropped two albums, topped iTunes and Billboard charts, and performed shows left and right — including an appearance on the United States Army Field Band’s holiday livestream concert this Sunday.
“Who even are we?” Mat Shaw joked with Clarkson during a brief interview that recently aired on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
“It’s amazing and it’s a testament of not only how gifted y’all are at singing, but also the story of y’all is so sweet and it’s so needed right now,” Clarkson told the Shaws. “It was the kind of music we all needed then and still do now, to help us stay strong and positive through this pandemic.”
Clarkson then shared a performance of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” that the Shaws prepared for her show. Just a day before, the duo had released its official music video for the Christmas classic, performed from the Tabernacle on Temple Square.
The Shaws’ next performance — a Christmas collaboration with the U.S. Army Field Band — will stream on their Facebook page on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT.
Mat Shaw previously told the Deseret News that he and his daughter don’t necessarily have “huge ambitions” regarding their music, although they do plan to keep riding the wave of their unexpected success and performing for their fans.
“We’ll just kind of see where it goes,” he said. “But we feel the responsibility of using this platform to share hope and spread joy. That’s meaningful and fulfilling and rewarding work to be involved in.
“And for us, if we lost all our fans tomorrow we’d still sing, because we love it,” he added. “We’d love it just the same.”