Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media, Inc.
Kelsea Ballerini’s Aspiration: “I Aim to Lead a Life Worthy of Penning Down.”
Kelsea Ballerini’s current circumstances contrast significantly with those of a year ago. She has undergone a divorce and embraced a new relationship. Notably, she completed a prominent headlining tour and had the opportunity to serve as the opening act for Shania Twain. Her presence extended to “Saturday Night Live,” and she unveiled an EP that earned substantial critical acclaim over the past year, encompassing “Rolling Up The Welcome Mat” and its deluxe iteration, “Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good).” The latter edition of the EP emerged as Ballerini channeled her experiences of her marriage’s dissolution into her songwriting.
Ballerini engaged in a conversation with SiriusXM’s Macie Banks, the host of the morning show on SiriusXM’s The Highway. During their discussion, she delved into how navigating the tumultuous emotional journey of the past year has influenced her perspective on crafting songs.
“I aspire to lead a life that provides material for my songwriting,” Ballerini conveyed. “Since the release of ‘Subject [To Change]’ in September, I’ve been remarkably occupied, and I’m longing for a moment to step back, assess my life, and relish in it.”
The artist, hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, shared that the preceding six to seven months have engendered a profound sense of accomplishment within her—an emotion she hadn’t allowed herself to experience for a considerable duration.
She explained, “Taking a moment to step back, spend time with my cherished friends and family, relish in my new beloved home, and be with my adored dog—these are all things I want to incorporate into the stories I craft through my music.” She reiterated, “Whenever new music takes shape, it will be an outcome of the deep inspiration drawn from my forthcoming experiences over the next few months.”
Ballerini conveyed that she has cautiously initiated the writing process, although without a definitive timeline, as she is concurrently involved in undisclosed projects. Furthermore, considering that “Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good)” has only recently been released, she finds herself in the early stages of this new creative journey.
“The primary focus was purely on the act of creation,” she elucidated. “I didn’t contemplate its potential airplay, its genre alignment, or its lyrical precision. The conventional Nashville song structure of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus wasn’t my concern. Those factors were inconsequential because they weren’t my objective.”
Upon the EP’s initial release almost a year ago, it closely followed her commercially successful country album “Subject To Change.” Initially, performing the EP’s tracks live wasn’t part of her plan, yet the demand from her fans has prompted her to reconsider.
“It has served as a valuable lesson for me in terms of my future approach to creating music,” Ballerini shared. “Should I transition my music-making methodology to a more intuitive process, without overthinking the aspects that I’ve been dwelling on too much? Should I simply create music for the sake of creation?”