"Superstar" somehow epitomized the output of The Carpenters and deviated from it all at once. On the one hand, it's a song that's so gentle that it wouldn't break an egg, putting it in line with their other massive hits. Yet it also goes to darker corners than the typical song by the duo of Karen and Richard Carpenter, in terms of both the haunting arrangement and Karen's wounded vocal. What is "Superstar" about? Who wrote the track? And how did the Carpenters adjust it to make it their own? The story begins in the late '60s with a loose musical collective that included, among many others, Eric Clapton.