Kelsea Ballerini is shutting down accusations that she was lip-syncing during her performance at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards. The country singer, who took to the stage for a live performance of “Mountain With a View” during the Sept. 28 award show, faced lip-syncing accusations following her emotional showing.
Ballerini posted a video on her Instagram Story soon after the performance shooting down the rumors, saying with a big smile as someone laughs in the background, “I just want to say, if I was lip-syncing, I would have sounded a lot better. One of the cameras was off. Thank you and goodnight.” Ballerini also posted a photo from the event of her giving “bombastic side eye” while thanking the People’s Choice Country Awards for letting her song “have a moment.”
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Ballerini’s fans were quick to defend her in the comments. “People. If she was lip syncing, you would not be able to hear her BREATHING while she was singing LIVE,” one person wrote, as another added, “The people who know the recorded version know you were live. Camera was off, you slayed girl!” A third person chimed in, “Wait I’m so annoyed by the lip syncing theory. You could totally tell it was live,” and a different dedicated fan wrote, “The camera was off for a few of the performances! You slayed, as usual. Anyone who has seen you live, knows you were singing. Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…”
NBC also seemed to address technical difficulties on the network’s Instagram, reposting Ballerini’s performance with the caption, “@kelseaballerini’s FLAWLESS glitch-free performance. nobody does live vocals like her!”
Ballerini’s performance of “Mountain With a View” was a personal one, as it was included in her EP “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat,” which was inspired by her divorce from country singer and ex-husband Morgan Evans. In August 2022, the two announced they were splitting after nearly five years of marriage. Evans has also released music about their divorce, detailing the breakup in “Over For You” and claiming that it came as a massive surprise for him. Following her split from Evans, Ballerini has made headlines for dating Outer Banks star Chase Stokes after the two connected in December 2022 on Instagram.
