Kelsea Ballerini Announces New Single, ‘Homecoming Queen?’ out on Friday

After a series of cryptic social media posts, Kelsea Ballerini has finally announced that her new single, “Homecoming Queen?,” from her upcoming third studio album, will be released on Friday, Sept. 6!

“The new single is called homecoming queen? and is coming out 9/6,” Ballerini posted. “THERE I SAID IT … #homecomingqueen.”

Earlier in the week, Ballerini posted three short videos, captioning each with just a question mark. The last one showed the singer walking into a room that said, “Ballerini Dressing Room,” with “Miss Me More” written at the top and bottom of the page.

To celebrate the announcement, Ballerini answered several questions from fans about the single and her next set of tunes. The Tennessee native said the song, which she says is the most emotional song she has ever released, was co-written by Nicolle Galyon and Jimmy Robbins, with the videos she teased all part of the music video for “Homecoming Queen?” But in spite of the title of the song, which she says is about “zipping up the mess,” Ballerini never the homecoming queen in her school.

“I definitely was not,” Ballerini said. “It’s a metaphor for somebody that seemingly has it all together and polished from the outside looking in.”

Ballerini’s last single, “Miss Me More,” became her fifth No. 1 hit, and was her final release from her sophomore Unapologetically tune. The new record, Ballerini said, will have both collaborations and co-writes with some of her favorite artists.

“It’s been so much fun to get in the room with people that I’ve looked up to forever, like Ryan Tedder and Julia Michaels, and Ed Sheeran,” Ballerini told PopCulture.com and other media. “It’s really fun to be able to write with other artists too. I haven’t really done that before and so you’re in the room and they have the perspective of what it’s going to be like on stage, and how you’re going to be able to communicate it in interviews, and all that stuff.

“They have that knowledge, so it’s a different perspective writing with them,” she continued. “But it’s been really fun and just different. I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a songwriter from that.”

Photo Credit: Getty images / Jason Kempin