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Kelsea Ballerini pointed out a full-circle moment she experienced as she performed for an intimate crowd on a rooftop in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Ballerini, 30, spoke about the “life-changing” recent years in her life when she took the stage on Friday morning (June 7). The award-winning singer-songwriter reflected on the growth she’s experienced over the last decade, including when she released “Love Me Like You Mean it” as her debut single in 2014 (she performed a reimagined version during the 2024 CMT Music Awards earlier this year). Ballerini’s most recent project is Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, a vulnerable EP she wrote about her journey of heartache and healing after divorce. The EP resonated deeply with Ballerini’s fans and she followed up with an extended version, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good), months later.
One of the songs Ballerini performed during the intimate show at Harriet’s Rooftop is “Penthouse,” a Welcome Mat track offers insight into Ballerini’s relationship with her ex-husband and the penthouse they shared in Nashville. She couldn’t help but notice when she arrived at the venue for sound check earlier in the morning that she could see her former penthouse from the rooftop stage. Audience members could see it behind her as she performed the Welcome Mat song on Friday.
“(These have been) life-changing and rewarding years of my life, and, you know, when I started, I put out ‘Love Me Like You Mean It’ 10 years ago,” Ballerini said. “I was really worried about doing it all right, and I was really worried about — I wanted to be human, but I wanted to be a human that didn’t have any flaws and never disappointed anyone, and I shed that skin the last few years, you know? And I’ve never felt better, and I think that it’s this beautiful thing. And I don’t know if it’s age, or life, or love or all of the above, but I think there’s something really important that we all go through at some point in our life, where we just decide that if you’re happy with yourself and you’re making the choices that you believe make you a good person, doing the right things, everything else kind of just falls into line. And — it’s a God thing, man,” she said in response to one fan who shouted in support, “it’s a God thing,” followed by another who said, “you’re doing great, sweetie,” from the crowd. “And I just wanna say thank you so much for walking through it all with me when it wasn’t so glittery and when it was a bit chaotic. Thank you for loving this record like you did, and have, and continue to, and I want you to know that I have never, ever been so ‘mother’ over an album as I am this next one because I wanna make you proud on the way you’ve loved Welcome Mat.
“I came up here for sound check earlier, and you can see where I used to live,” Ballerini said. “You can see the penthouse behind me. So, this feels very full-circle and kismet. And I’m very happy to be here.”
“Penthouse” was one of several songs Ballerini performed at the event she hosted with The Original Donut Shop to mark the debut of her new coffee blend. She kicked off her career-spanning performance with “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too),” a fan-favorite anthem from her latest full-length album, Subject To Change, which arrived in 2022. Ballerini also took requests from the crowd, delivering renditions of “Legends,” “Blindsided” — “it’s all about female rage” — “How Do I Do This,” and more. She followed the performance with a Q&A, hosted by her mom, Carla.
Ballerini’s rooftop performance arrives as she gets ready to take the main stage at Nissan Stadium on Friday night during CMA Fest, which runs from Thursday (June 6) through Sunday (June 9). The annual festival will air as a televised concert special hosted by Jelly Roll and Ashley McBryde on Tuesday, June 25 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu. Other artists performing at Nissan Stadium include Jon Pardi, Cody Johnson, Luke Bryan and more.
Ballerini is also getting ready for her next chapter of music, following Subject To Change and Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. She said in an interview with Flaunt Magazine earlier this year that hopes her new music can reflect “what it feels like to be falling in love and feeling a new level of safety,” after celebrating her one-year anniversary with Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes in January. Carla teased “some incredible love songs,” on her daughter’s “full-circle” album. Ballerini, who described the record as “grounded,” confirmed that it will release sometime this year.
“I’ve never handled anything with so much care in my life,” she said. When asked whether she had a dream collaboration, she responded: “Dream collab? You’ll see real soon.”
In November, Ballerini performed an unreleased love song on the Grand Ole Opry stage, titled “To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak.” She delivered the debut live performance with songwriters Karen Fairchild and Hillary Lindsey.
“The reality is, I’ve been singing about a chapter of my life that is far past me now,” Ballerini said on the Opry stage at that time, referencing Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. “And I’m writing about the chapter of life that I’m in, and it looks very different, and I kind of wanted to share a bit of it now. I’m very gently and slowly starting to make the next record. I really want to take the time to handle it with care.”