Because the main theme of the new 15-song follow-up to Rolling Up the Welcome Mat is all about “my entry into my thirties and what that looks like and what that feels like,” Kelsea reports. “Let me assess my life.” And musically, the Grammy-nominated musician feels this album is “a big step up for me. And I think as a songwriter, I just hang my hat on it.”
To get the tone and feel that she wanted, Ballerini surrounded herself with women “who are just at the top of their game all the time,” she explains, co-producing and co-writing with Alysa Vanderheym, and working with songwriters Jessie Jo Dillon, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Hillary Lindsey.
And even though Ballerini professes “I hate love songs,” she admits that “this is a love record.” So when fans attend her upcoming Madison Square Garden show, the “Blindsided” songstress advises them, “Don’t wear heels. We’re going to be standing, we’re going to be dancing, we’re going to be crying.”