Kelsea Ballerini Determined to Stay the Same In Spite of Fame

Kelsea Ballerini is still the girl next door. At least she hopes so. The 24-year-old is determined [...]

Kelsea Ballerini is still the girl next door. At least she hopes so. The 24-year-old is determined to be the same young woman on stage as she is off, in spite of her rising fame.

"I made a promise to myself when I signed a record deal when I was 19," Ballerini tells Elite Daily. "I promised myself that I would be the same person on stage as I was out to dinner with my friends, as I was on Instagram. I never wanted anyone to see me anywhere and be disappointed, if that makes sense. So I share everything."

Ballerini released her sophomore Unapologetically album last fall, once again co-writing all 12 songs on the record, including the No. 1 hit, "Legends," and her current single, "I Hate Love Songs."

This album is a story," she says. "It starts with a breakup, and then it goes into growing up and growing pains, and then it goes into falling in love."

It was while working on Unapologetically that Ballerini met and fell in love with her current husband, Morgan Evans, and also learned she didn't have the energy to be anyone but herself.

"I think for a while, when I was just starting out, I just tried to be perfect all the time and I tried to say the right things all the time... and it was just exhausting," she continues. "It wasn't authentic, either. I think this last three-year period while I was writing this record and putting it out and even now, I've just chosen to just be who I am. Lead with my heart, not always my head, and it makes for a happier person."

Her marriage to Evans has had a profound, if slightly unexpected, affect on every aspect of her life and career.

"It's the same person and it's the same life, but... there is this newfound confidence in it," she says. "It's hard to explain. Even with you're engaged you're like, 'I'm with this person forever, look!' but when you're married, there's this new feeling of 'no matter what.'"

With Ballerini's career moving full-speed ahead, and Evans building his own career, with his first single, "Kiss Somebody," becoming a Top 30 hit, the Tennessee native is determined their relationship will always come first, even if how they make it work is anything but typical.

"We have a two-week rule. We've only broken it once," Ballerini reveals. "We learned it from Keith [Urban] and Nicole [Kidman]; they have it. I just think as much as we are in this phase of our careers where it's like, building the foundation and it's really important to be busy and to be doing as much as we can, obviously our relationship comes first. We're learning to be able to say no to things if we need to, to get to each other. Instead of going home, I'll fly to him or vice versa. But this is definitely the year of putting in the effort."

Ballerini is headlining her own Unapologetically Tour, with Walker Hayes serving as her opening act. Dates can be found on her website.

Purchase Unapologetically on Amazon and iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/kelseaballerini

0comments