Watch Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey Perform 'Graveyard' for 'CMT Crossroads'
Their CMT Crossroads episode won't air until March, but fans can get an early glimpse of one of [...]
Their CMT Crossroads episode won't air until March, but fans can get an early glimpse of one of the songs Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey performed together! The two powerhouse vocalists sang "Graveyard," from Halsey's latest Manic album, which was just released.
It stands to reason that Ballerini and Halsey would make beautiful music together. The singers have been friends for some time, ever since Ballerini attended Halsey's show in 2018 at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.
"I had met her before, but we'd never really hung out," Ballerini told PEOPLE. "I'm obviously a really big fan of her music, so I went to the show with my friends and afterwards said hi, and she didn't have a show the next day, so she was like, 'Let's go hang!' And I was like, 'Yep!'"
Ballerini and Halsey sang karaoke that night into the wee hours of the morning, where they found out they had a lot in common besides successful music careers.
"We're both really similar in age and had a lot to talk about; it was cool to be around someone who's so creative and so driven and so down-to-earth," Ballerini acknowledged. "She really is so lovely. I feel like I made a new friend."
Their CMT Crossroads airing comes at a pivotal time for the network, which just announced they were implementing equal airtime for both male and female artists. The news came after Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves and others slammed a Michigan radio station for admitting they refused to play two female artists back to back.
"Time is really up in 2020! All the talk around what can be done to support females in country music needs to transform into action, once and for all," Leslie Fram, SVP of Music & Talent at CMT, said in a statement. "At CMT, we are stepping up our own commitments, in addition to our work through the CMT Next Women of Country franchise, and will be announcing a new initiative in the coming weeks that will spark this much-needed change in our industry."
Effective immediately all music video hours on CMT and CMT Music channels will have complete parity between male and female artists. That means 50/50. #CMTEqualPlay
— CMT (@CMT) January 21, 2020
The CMT Crossroads starring Ballerini and Halsey will premiere on Wednesday, March 25 at 10 p.m. ET on CMT.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of CMT / Jason Kempin