Kelly Clarkson on how the song was originally given to her with a different sound:

I thought it was cool and everything, but I kind of wanted to make it my own idea, like with every song on the record. I want to make sure it’s me, obviously, because it’s my face, my voice. They were really cool with it. I sent back, “maybe if we could change it make it a little more different, a little more tough. They love it. We did that with "Since You’ve Been Gone” as well. I love the hard drums and the heavy guitars.

–via KoreaTimes (2009)

While Clarkson is not officially credited as a songwriter for “My Life Would Suck Without You”, the artist revealed in a September 2017 interview with Z100 that she co-wrote the song but declined credit in an attempt to distance herself from her record label’s insistence on working with writer & producer Dr. Luke. She elaborated on the subject, saying:

There’s a lot of times in my career where you don’t see my name on the song and that’s because sometimes I don’t write them…[But] if I deserve it, I usually ask, and I did deserve it on [‘My Life Would Suck Without You’]…They brought up writing credit at the end, and I was like, ‘I don’t want my name near his. I want to pretend this didn’t happen in my life and I want to forget it.’ "

Clarkson’s confession came not long after Dr. Luke’s highly public legal battle with pop artist Kesha over accusations of the producer’s sexual and emotional abuse. The Z100 interview echoed comments Clarkson had previously made in 2016 in support of Kesha on Australia’s KIIS FM:

A lot of artists that have worked with him don’t work with him anymore for pretty good, solid reasons…He’s not a good person to me. We’ve clashed. I can’t really say anything other than that."