Kelsea Ballerini on Patterns

Debuting her fifth album last week, Kelsea Ballerini strikes a balance between honesty and relatability, bringing us to the world of her inner-most thoughts, with Patterns.

I had the opportunity to see Kelsea live in Hershey, PA when she opened for the Jonas Brothers on tour in 2021. I knew some of her country bops like “Peter Pan” and “Love Me Like you Mean it” but I didn’t know her. She brought a stand-out energy to the crowd, with a candor that made it seem like we were all just hanging out with our really cool friend- who happened to have phenomenal vocals. Fast-forward 4 years and yesterday I found myself sitting in the studio audience of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” with Kelsea as the musical guest. She sat down with Kelly and directly addressed her intention of being human on stage. She remembers experiencing that relatability in a crowd at one of Kelly’s shows and made a note to bring that level of human connection to hers. 

Over the last few years, I’ve followed Kelsea on social media, watching from the sidelines as she released Subject to Change and Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, each album progressively more raw… with the latter detailing the process of ending her marriage. Kelsea’s authenticity shows up in seemingly everything that she does- from instagram stories, to performing on stage, partnering with brands like Aerie, and each podcast or tv interview; but is she really like this in person? I can confirm, in fact, she is. Halloween 2023: my friend won a giveaway and brought me as her plus-one to a Manhattan event hosted by Kelsea Ballerini. There were costumes, fascinating people in niche career trajectories (one person I met was on the red carpet at the Eras Tour Concert Movie premier in LA- but that’s another story!), and of course- Kelsea, herself! Even though she was there for “work,” you could tell for her, the most important thing was connecting and having fun with us. When my friend and I had a moment alone to talk with Kelsea, the music was loud, but she leaned down to hear exactly what we were saying. For me, what I remember isn’t so much the words spoken but the connection shared; she made us feel like we were the most important people in the room for those few minutes, genuinely appreciative of our accolades for her, as she thanked us for supporting her music. 

In entirely its own lane- her music is not fully country, nor fully pop, but fully committed to story-telling. Patterns details a coming-of-age for a woman embracing herself, evaluating her habits- “good” or “bad,” exploring and challenging society’s influence on how we navigate relationships with ourselves and others. “Cowboys Cry Too,” co-written with Noah Kahan addresses the theme of toxic masculinity: 

Don’t wanna bear teeth, but don't wanna look weak, it’s a tough spot; 

But I’m afraid you’ll walk away when the tears start runnin’

But I hope not.

“This Time Last Year” is an anthem of growth, showing up for yourself and beginning to no longer identify with outgrown versions of you, while simultaneously feeling immense gratitude for having the courage to change:

It's gonna be okay

You'll live to see the day

When you're gonna say

Look at me now