Pop music: Rockford songwriter dons homemade Popsicle costume to relaunch music career

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — There are a number of ways someone can decide to relaunch their music career. Clark Kelly did it by dressing as a giant Popsicle.

The 38-year-old Rockford singer and songwriter donned a roughly 6-foot tall, homemade orange Popsicle costume on Friday evening to greet passersby along the Rock River Recreation Path with a cool treat and an invitation to hear his latest song.

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Walking with a posse of family members and friends, Kelly and his crew handed out free Popsicles and a business card with a QR code to his latest song about, you guessed it, Popsicles.

“It’s very on the nose,” Kelly told one recipient through the hole for his face cut out from a cardboard box.

Kelly is reentering the music scene here about five years after he left Nashville, Tennessee, where he had been based while writing songs and touring the country.

The new song is a simple melody strummed on an acoustic guitar with lyrics that evoke the style of Randy Newman or Pixar movies.

“Popsicle, Popsicle: Which color is the best? Yeah, red gets lots of fanfare, but orange has so much zest,” Kelly sings, hitting high pitches on the word Popsicle. “Little by little you go away with every lick, but you leave me smiling from the joke on your stick.”

The song is meant to induce feelings of nostalgia for those who fondly recall snacking on ice pops as a child. There’s no hidden innuendos or metaphors behind the lyrics. Clark wrote the song after fumbling through his freezer mid-movie one night and snacking on a Popsicle for the first time in about a decade.

“This is about what it’s about. There’s no deeper meaning,” Kelly said. “I just wrote a little tribute to a tasty treat is all.”

It’s too early to tell if Kelly’s promotional stunt along the riverfront path will earn him any new fans, but it did garner some attention early Friday evening.

“It was definitely eye-catching,” said Nadiyah Williams, 14, who was on the path with her sister, Zakeeya, 20.

“I wasn’t expecting to be handed a card but that was a good way to get my attention,” Zakeeya Williams said of the QR code leading to his song. “I’m going to go check it out and see how it is.”

Reynaldo Bernard, who operates JuJu Rey’s Art Clubhouse in downtown with his partner, Judith Goudy, said he first thought the handout was being done by a church or other organization to spread some kindness. He picked up a Popsicle for his son and didn’t mind that it was a bit of self-promotion for the musician.

“Whatever good it’s for, whether it’s advertisement, or for the church, or just giving things away to people, I think it’s positive,” Bernard said.

Kelly said he plans to do more promotional stunts around the release of future songs. There will be a release each month for the next four months.

“No more costumes as of now, but that will probably change,” he said.

He said the idea for the costumed Popsicle giveaway came from Pablo Korona, an artist and videographer who is also behind the Our City, Our Story video series.

Kelly spent about four hours crafting and painting the Popsicle costume from a discarded cardboard box.

“I was about to go dumpster diving for the perfect-sized box and I went to my apartment complex and there she was, she was a beaut,” he said. “I got a gift from the garbage gods that day.”

The 2004 Boylan Catholic High School graduate moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after high school to study at music college Belmont University. He signed with Sony shortly after college and toured the country, opening for acts such as Panic at the Disco and The All-American Rejects.

He moved back to Rockford about five years ago after the death of his grandfather. He’s been working as a bartender at Prairie Street Brewing Co. and is now wading back into a music career, taking note from Rockford-based musicians such as Emily Hurd, Miles Nielsen and Kelly Steward.

“I’m just really trying to be a part of this community and make the most of where we’re at right now and all the good things that are happening here,” he said.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas