Kelsea Ballerini Shares How ‘Reinvesting’ In Her ‘Real Life’ Has Been Transformative: ‘I Feel Really Proud Of Myself Emotionally’
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Kelsea Ballerini has come a long way, both personally and professionally, since her 2014 debut single “Love Me Like You Mean It” peaked at no. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
After finalizing her divorce to fellow country singer Morgan Evans in November 2022, Ballerini went on to have a transformative year in all aspects of her life.
Upon releasing her February EP Rolling Up the Welcome Mat about the “turmoil” of her divorce, Ballerini tells People for the magazine’s 2023 Beautiful Issue, out Friday, that writing her new music marked “the first time [she] got back to a filterless way of making music.”
The “Miss Me More” singer says she “selfishly” wrote the EP for herself.
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“I really thought I would put it out and move on. It’s not happening that way, so I feel like I’m playing emotional catch-up in the best way,” Ballerini says of the songs, which she’s noticed have been “hitting differently” with her fans than her past music as she currently performs them on her “Heartfirst Tour”.
“When I sing ‘Penthouse’, it’s a guttural moment with every woman in the room relating to some heartbreak,” she elaborates. “I obviously wrote this EP about my divorce, but heartbreak is heartbreak and breakups are breakups. Heartbreak can feel so daunting and isolating when you’re in it, and to me, music is a way to connect. It’s a really healing thing.”
When she’s not performing, Ballerini, 29, says she’s recently “reinvested in [her] real life.”
“I feel like I have less people in my life, but the people I do have are pillars and safe and important,” she explained, adding that she’s also “really good at being alone again,” even though it took her “a hot minute.”
“I think being alone requires you to be comfortable with whatever’s going to come up in the quiet,” she says. “If you’re okay with whatever arises, then you’re fine. If you’re not comfortable being alone, it means that you’re probably running away from something.”
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This past year, another thing that’s changed is Ballerini’s perception of beauty.
“I think beautiful to me is happy right now. I used to think it was very aesthetic, and I think it’s much more internal now,” she shares.
As for love, one of the biggest lessons the country star has recently learned is that “staying soft” is the most rewarding gift.
“It’s really easy to put up walls and picket fences and barbed wire when a relationship doesn’t go how you think it’s going to because you don’t want to get hurt again,” she tells People. “A real gift you can give yourself is to stay soft because you never know when you’re going to find it again.”
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Since her divorce, Ballerini has found love with “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes.
Ultimately, summing up everything she’s overcome in the past year, Ballerini is “really proud” of her emotional growth.
“I feel really proud of myself emotionally. That’s what’s making me feel comfortable in my skin,” she says. “My soul, my heart, my mind and my body are finally at rest. When I’m happy, I feel beautiful.”
