but experience and a little bit more boldness.

I just felt a sense of safety in writing this book to tackle things that I didn’t feel safe enough to tackle before. Hopefully, it translates into the next record. How is Kelsea the poet different from Kelsea the musician? There’s nothing to hide behind there’s no one else to blame. While that’s much more exposed and vulnerable, I’m so much more proud of it. With this book, it’s the first time that it’s just me. So although it is still your truth, it’s not just your truth. The biggest difference is, even on the most vulnerable and honest of songs, there’s probably a co-writer with you, a producer, studio musicians, an engineer, so many other perspectives that get added to your truth. “What I care about is being up front and honest and human.”īelow, Ballerini discusses her foray into poetry, fangirling over Kelly Clarkson, and more. “What a freeing thing to do to things that I’ve kept close to the chest because I thought being a role model meant being glittery all the time,” Ballerini says of publishing her messy coming-of-age anecdotes punctuated with swear words. She discovers her unlikely Enneagram (“The Peacemaker”), yearns for a sibling (“If I Had A Sister”), battles an eating disorder (“Kangaroo”), and reflects on witnessing a tragic school shooting (“His Name Was Ryan”). Though Ballerini is no stranger to showing vulnerability in her music - her 2015 debut album The First Time broke country music records doing just that - sans melody, Ballerini’s feelings are even more unfiltered. 16, Ballerini lays claim to her life in verse over 52 poems. What she wrote turned into Feel Your Way Through, Ballerini’s first anthology of autobiographical poems - and ultimately her catharsis. “But I could still write.” So she and her dog Dibs headed to a secluded cabin 30 minutes from her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, where she put pen to paper and sobbed.

“Music for me was a sad place for several months to follow,” the 28-year-old tells Bustle. The country singer's third album kelsea was released just as the world went into lockdown in March 2020, preventing her from touring and sharing her new music in-person with fans. Kelsea Ballerini briefly broke up with music.

A thousand years karaoke