Kelsea Ballerini has a message for the Country Music Community: the more, the merrier!
In a new article in Elle, the ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee says she struggles to understand why country music isn’t more welcoming to pop artists who want to try their hand at the genre.
“People who are pushing back really need to check themselves, because music is for everybody,” said the singer.
Ballerini especially bristles at the fact that for some in the country music community, cross-overs are a one-way street. “If we, as country artists, feel like we can have a collab on top 40 or have a collab with an R&B artist, why wouldn’t we give a welcome to someone else?”
ACM Results for Kelsea Ballerini
The 31-year-old was both a performer and nominee at the May 8 Academy of Country Music Awards. She was nominated for three ACMs this year, including Entertainer of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and for Best Music Event of the Year alongside Noah Kahn for their collab on “Cowboys Cry Too.”
But she didn’t take home any prizes May 8. Lainey Wilson won both Entertainer and Female Artist of the Year, and Ella Langley and Riley Green’s “You Look Like You Love Me” won best Music Event.
Kelsea Ballerini Wants to Do More ‘Genre Blending’
Now that her tour is over, Kelsea is looking ahead to her next album.
“There’s a saying in the music industry: ‘You have your whole life to make your first record and then two days in between tour dates to make your second,'” she muses.
In fact, Ballerini would like to do a little crossing over herself and hopes she’ll be welcomed by other artists.
“I intend to do more genre blending. That excites me,” Ballerini told ELLE.
The singer specifically says she would “die” to work with SZA.
But she also wants to own her space in country music.
“It’s always been my goal to be a woman who headlines arenas. Especially in country music, you don’t see it a lot. I think that I, and my whole team collectively, had this “If not now, when?” mentality,” she says. “Seeing the crowd is one thing, but feeling the crowd is another thing. We’re locked in. The show is structured as an emotional roller coaster. I get to feel it every night with people, and that’s the dream.”
Kelsea Ballerini Is Looking for Balance
But while her next album may be on her mind, Kelsea Ballerini says right now her big goal is to get back into “real life,” spending the summer at home in Nashville.
Ballerini told VOGUE that her focus right now is, “making sure that every cup in my life is filled: as a woman, as an artist, songwriter, partner, daughter, dog mom – all those things. I’m ready to spend my summer being home, perfecting new recipes, getting back into a Pilates schedule, hosting game nights, and hanging with my dogs by the pool. I’m really looking forward to having time to be in my real life. Balance, baby!”
“Living my life to the fullest means having intention with every moment, and that can look like a lot of different things,” she continues. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be productive. It can be restful and restorative, or having that moment before you get on stage to just take a beat for yourself before you connect with people. I think it is important when you’re on the go doing a million things to be present in each thing you do.”
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Kelsea Ballerini Says There’s Room for Everyone in Country Music