- 20 hours ago
- #kelseaballerini
- #ninagarcia
- #defining
- #elle
Kelsea Ballerini has never stopped evolving, even when the world thought she’d already made it. In this episode of “Defining,” the Grammy-nominated artist sits down with ELLE Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia to revisit the pivotal moments that have shaped her, both on and off the stage. From writing songs in her Knoxville bedroom to navigating fame, heartbreak, and creative independence, Kelsea opens up about the honesty behind her most rewarding musical chapter, what “making it” really means to her, and how she’s learned to live in the moment. Together, she and Nina discuss resilience, reinvention, and the women who continue to inspire her—from her mom and therapist to Sheryl Crow, Wynonna Judd, Taylor Swift, and more.
#KelseaBallerini #NinaGarcia #Defining #ELLE
#KelseaBallerini #NinaGarcia #Defining #ELLE
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Who makes you feel the sexiest?
00:02I don't know if I really ever feel sexy.
00:04I think when you have the I made it moment,
00:06your drive diminishes.
00:08I don't really understand it,
00:10but music, I know, is such a tough industry.
00:13I did cry myself to sleep that night.
00:14You will be a mentor to somebody else.
00:17I was getting tall, boys were getting cute,
00:19body's changing, everything's changing,
00:21and then my family was changing.
00:23I'm from Latin America.
00:24You grow up thinking that you have to be such a good girl,
00:26so humble and so...
00:28Quite small.
00:29And you really sometimes just need to own your power.
00:32Ilambe.
00:33Hi, I'm Nina Garcia,
00:35and I'm so excited to introduce our guest today.
00:38She's a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter
00:40and one of the most influential voices in country music.
00:45This year alone, she played a sold-out arena tour,
00:48was a coach on The Voice,
00:50and of course, graced the cover of Elle.
00:53She's an advocate for mental health awareness,
00:56LGBTQ rights.
00:58Our guest isn't just following the rules, she's riding her own.
01:02This is Defining Kelsey Ballernini.
01:06Kelsey, thank you so much for joining us today.
01:09You had an incredible year.
01:11When you look back at 2025, what is one moment that will define this year for you?
01:18Ooh, well, first of all, you're an icon, and thank you for having me.
01:22You're so sweet.
01:23I'll talk to you again.
01:24It's been a really beautiful chapter of life and certainly of my career.
01:28It's hard to even pick a word to define the rest of the year, because I have no idea what's coming up.
01:34But I think so far, doing my first arena tour, it felt very full circle.
01:39And I say that because there's a phrase that we use in Nashville called the ten-year town, and everyone kind of has their version of their ten years to make it, what that means.
01:46I put out my first album ten years ago, and it took a really beautiful, steady grind for ten years to headline arenas, and we did it.
01:56How did it feel to see all those fans?
02:00Really emotional, and I wanted to make sure that I stayed present every night, because it gets really monotonous every day, you know?
02:07Like, you pull into the arena, every backstage looks the same.
02:10It's concrete.
02:11And so I really wanted to make sure that I was, like, taking inventory every night.
02:16That's why we kept it to 35 shows and didn't make it longer, because I was like, I want to make sure that I can remember something in each city and just mentally document this.
02:24Because not a lot of people get to do that, and I don't take it for granted, and I never, I don't know if I'll get to do it again.
02:35You've really carved out a name for yourself as a fashion fixture.
02:39Ooh!
02:39From the Schiaparelli look on the cover of Elle, to the Tamara Ralph couture mini-dress at the Grammys, to a custom Michael Kors moment at the Met Gala.
02:48Don't we love Michael Kors?
02:49Oh my gosh.
02:50Lovely human.
02:51Oh, the best.
02:52Was there a moment when you thought, okay, I've really made it?
02:57Never.
02:58Really?
02:59Come on.
02:59No, never.
02:59I mean, definitely moments where I'm like, I feel like a princess.
03:03Like, 13-year-old me is freaking out.
03:07Met Gala was a huge one.
03:08That's been on my bucket list for the longest time.
03:10Like, when I was a little girl, I'd play dress-up.
03:13Like, that was my thing.
03:14I've always loved, like, clothes and fashion and beauty and being able to transform yourself depending on your mood and trends and all that stuff.
03:22And so that was really amazing.
03:24And the dress that Michael made was just gorgeous.
03:27Schiaparelli on your cover was a huge one.
03:30I don't think I'd ever put Schiaparelli on my body before.
03:32So even zipping it up, I was like, oh.
03:35Yeah, so there's definitely moments that I think in anything, in music, fashion, business side, whatever it is, I think when you have the I made it moment, your drive diminishes.
03:45And I'm not there yet.
03:47I hear you.
03:48I can understand that.
03:49I believe there's more to come.
03:51Are there any fashion moments that you look back and cringe at?
03:56Certainly.
03:57You want to share?
03:59I have my own.
04:00What's one of yours?
04:01You go first and then I'll go.
04:02I've had so many.
04:03When I wore, like, something too tight or too sexy, I'm like, what was I thinking?
04:08Shoes that were too high when they were that platform.
04:10Yes, yes, that's hard.
04:12I mean, I've had several.
04:13I remember my first ever red carpet.
04:15You had to be top 40 to walk the carpet.
04:17But I really wanted to be at this award show.
04:19So I decided to be a correspondent for Radio Disney.
04:22So you could walk the carpet really, really early and then you'd get behind the barricade and interview people.
04:27I didn't know.
04:28I didn't know.
04:29I didn't believe in eyebrow pencils.
04:32And I only believed in, like, booties, not heels yet.
04:35It just wasn't my best.
04:36And lots of blush.
04:38Yeah, it just wasn't good.
04:41Sometimes I don't like what's in the mirror.
04:44You've talked a lot about how songwriting became an outlet for you as a kid growing up in Knoxville.
04:51Especially as a way to process some of the challenging moments when your parents got divorced.
04:57Can you take me back to that time?
05:00Yeah.
05:00I loved music growing up and joined the Glee Club in my high school, led worship at church for a while.
05:08I always loved it.
05:09But I didn't know that you could just, like, choose to be a singer.
05:13Like, you could choose to be something else.
05:15Like, I didn't know that was a career that you could chase down.
05:18I was 12 when my parents got divorced.
05:20And that's also the age, like, I was getting tall.
05:22Boys were getting cute.
05:23Bodies changing.
05:24Everything's changing.
05:25And then my family was changing.
05:27But I just would hole up in my room and I would write down all my very big feelings.
05:31And I would hum a little melody.
05:33It just became a really safe place for me where I could preserve all of my thoughts about all the big feelings that I had.
05:40That was, like, my branch in the water that I just held on to and then got out.
05:44Interesting.
05:45Yeah.
05:46Honesty has been a theme in your music.
05:48And I think that's part of why your EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, connected the way it did.
05:54Has there ever been a moment where someone told you, you're sharing too much, you're being too honest, or even warned you to dial it back?
06:03I think I was the person that was the most on the defense of putting out, especially that EP.
06:10Because I've always written about my life.
06:12Like, it's always been honest and from, like, a really true origin.
06:14But I would leave out details.
06:16So it could be for a 13-year-old little girl from Kansas.
06:19Or it could be from, you know, someone who's, like, in London their whole life.
06:23Like, I wanted it to be for anyone.
06:26And then with Welcome Mat, I didn't.
06:28It was very just about my life at that moment.
06:32Those feelings.
06:33Very full circle to 12-year-old me with my parents, you know.
06:35I was probably the only one that was worried about the concept.
06:39Were you surprised?
06:40Very.
06:41Isn't that wild?
06:43Mm-hmm.
06:43It was, like, the most rewarding musical chapter of my life.
06:47And it was the most unintentional commercial project I ever put out.
06:51Incredible.
06:51This is a little harder conversation, but this series is all about the moments that define us.
07:05Obviously, we all know about the powerful poem you wrote about surviving a school shooting,
07:11which I still, it gives me chills to read it.
07:15You say, I'm scared of loud noises, I'm triggered by the news, I'm terrified of guns, I'm sensitive in crowds, but I'm alive.
07:23And because of a boy named Ryan, I know what a gift that is.
07:27That is a powerful and scary situation you were in.
07:32Can you talk about that moment and how that affected you as a teenager?
07:35That happened the seventh day of my sophomore year in Knoxville at Central High School.
07:41It's hard to even really put that into words.
07:45Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that have been in that situation or a very similar one.
07:50And I think for me, it teaches you the value of life.
07:54There was also a shooting in Nashville two years ago now at Covenant.
07:59I was like, wow, we're living in a world now where I've been in the room for a school shooting and 0.3 miles down the road from a school shooting.
08:07And that is a really terrifying statistic.
08:09And I think that's why I'm starting to try to be a little bit more vocal about having a stance on what I believe to be right in that space.
08:18Well, and I think that's why you also think it's so important to be present, right?
08:22That's right.
08:22Talk about you want to be present at those moments in that arena with your fans.
08:27Just want people to be safe.
08:28And you also want to be present because tomorrow anything can happen.
08:33You've lived through that.
08:34So it really is incredible that you live through that.
08:38I can't imagine.
08:40In your Elle cover story, you talked about owning your power and shared that your manager told you, you need to stop acting.
08:47Like you're new here.
08:50Yes.
08:51Can you talk about that situation when you felt like you stepped into your power?
08:56I mean, we all go through that.
08:57Definitely.
08:58What is that like?
09:00For me, at least, it was stemming from the fact that I was so grateful to be in these rooms finally.
09:04Like being at the CMA Awards and being at the Grand Ole Opry, I was like, I can't believe that I'm here.
09:10At the same time, I had worked my ass off for years and years and years and nothing was handed.
09:16Nothing was given.
09:17Like it was truly work.
09:19I'm grateful to be here, but you have to match it with that knowingness of I've also, I deserve to be here.
09:25And maybe this is just like the Southern woman in me, but being like, yeah, good job me feels so icky.
09:32And I think I've learned from watching powerful women and having amazing peers in my life that the women that I want to be like and that I really look up to are the ones that are like, here are my wins, here are my misses, here's where I want to grow, here's where I'm killing it.
09:47Here you go.
09:48This is my roadmap.
09:49And I'm like, I want to be like that.
09:51So I think it's a journey for all of us.
09:54I'm from Latin America.
09:55You grow up thinking that you have to be so, such a good girl, so humble and so appreciative.
10:02Yes, quiet and small.
10:03And you really sometimes just need to own your power.
10:06Be lambic.
10:08Speaking of owning your power, you have achieved so much in your career.
10:13Yet as a woman at the top of her game in country music, it is still difficult to get radio play.
10:19Your fans are upset when you left the ACMs without a win earlier this year.
10:25As someone on the outside of country music, this shocks me.
10:31Why do you think this is happening?
10:33I wish I had a good answer for this or I'd probably sleep a little better at night.
10:37I had seven number ones and then one day I just didn't anymore.
10:41I still put in the work and I still show up and put out songs that are undeniably country to radio.
10:48And it's just different now.
10:49And that's okay.
10:50If this was what success looked like for those first seven songs and now that's shifted for whatever reason, where else can we go?
10:58Like, because I'm not going to stop.
11:00I'm not going to stop making music.
11:02So like, where else can I fit?
11:04So I think it's just about shifting where I'm finding success.
11:08And it's the same with award shows.
11:09Like, I've never really been an award show girly.
11:11I, I love going, I love performing and I really let it affect me, uh, for a long time.
11:18And now I just go, you know what?
11:20I'm happy to be in the conversation.
11:22I know that I have value here and, um, this is not where I find my success.
11:27Good for you.
11:28I did cry myself to sleep that night.
11:30That is true.
11:31So I say this, I need to be honest with you.
11:33Like I'm, it's, you know, it's, it's always this, it's very, yeah.
11:38And it's, to me, it's shocking.
11:40I don't, I don't really understand it, but music I know is such a tough industry.
11:45It's tough.
11:46Who are the women in the industry that you lean on for support?
11:51I've recently gotten to know Cheryl Crowe a bit and she is just the actual Webster definition of a badass.
11:58She really is.
11:59She's so lovely and gritty and cool and warm.
12:02I love Wynonna.
12:04I wish I could be around her all the time.
12:06She's incredible.
12:08And it's been a gift to get to know her really early on in my career.
12:11Taylor was a huge mentor and friend to me and really changed my life by sharing my music before anyone had heard it.
12:19Kelly Clarkson.
12:20I would die for Kelly Clarkson.
12:22I talk about her any chance I can.
12:23I make it weird.
12:24I love her so much.
12:25So I I'm lucky to have really pillar women in my industry that I can, I can call and I can ask the hard questions.
12:32And you will be a mentor to somebody else.
12:35I hope to be.
12:35Yes, you will.
12:36I hope to be.
12:37We're going to wrap this up with a game of Inner Circle.
12:40I'm going to read you a scenario and you have to tell me who in your life would be there for you at that moment.
12:46I love this.
12:47Who's bailing you out of jail?
12:49Not that we want you to go to jail.
12:51I hope I don't go to jail.
12:52I'm calling Reese Witherspoon.
12:55That's a good one.
12:56That's a good one.
12:57Who's hyping you up before a big moment?
12:59My mom.
13:00Who are you texting when you want to talk a little shit?
13:03Carly Pierce.
13:04Who knows all your secrets but would never tell?
13:06My best friend Kelly, Kelly Bolton.
13:08Who gives the most honest advice even if you don't want to hear it?
13:11My therapist, Kristen.
13:14Honestly, I owe her a phone call.
13:15It's been too long.
13:16Who makes you feel the sexiest?
13:18Whoa.
13:19I don't know if I really ever feel sexy.
13:22Oh, please.
13:22No, that's not really.
13:23You are such a sexy mom.
13:25You're so nice.
13:26You are so sexy.
13:27I don't know if I, that's not really something that I wear.
13:31Seriously?
13:32Truly, truly, truly.
13:33Maybe that's like something I can work on.
13:35Except for that Schiaparelli.
13:36Okay, Schiaparelli there.
13:38That Schiaparelli is when I feel sexy.
13:41Who makes you belly laugh every single time?
13:45Oh, my goodness.
13:46My childhood best friend, Madison.
13:48Who would you want in your corner during a major meltdown?
13:52Probably Taylor Swift.
13:53I feel like she can handle anything.
13:55She can.
13:56Who's the person you trust to pick up a tattoo for you?
14:00No preview.
14:01Unfortunately, I'm not precious with them.
14:03So you could pick one out and I'd go get it right now.
14:05Really?
14:05Yeah.
14:06Okay.
14:06I'm going to pick that next tattoo.
14:08No preview.
14:09Okay.
14:10Anything you want.
14:14This was fun.
14:14This was lovely.
14:15Let's go to dinner.
14:16Yes, let's do that.
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