Watch: Kelsea Ballerini Covers Taylor Swift’s ‘Delicate’

Kelsea Ballerini has openly admitted her admiration for global superstar, Taylor Swift, who she became friends with as her own career was launching. The “I Hate Love Songs” singer, who has called Swift “amazing” and “supportive,” paid homage to her friend by performing a cover of Swift’s latest single, “Delicate.”

“Delicate” is from Swift’s multi-platinum 2017 Reputation album. But although Swift has left her country music career behind to focus on pop music, the 28-year-old hasn’t totally abandoned her country roots. Swift recently performed at the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, playing an intimate set with songwriter Craig Wiseman, who turned down the chance to co-write one of the biggest hits of Swift’s country career.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea,” Swift said of the tune, which Wiseman turned down during a writing session, before her performance. “I thought there was something to it. I really liked it. This is the song I almost wrote with Craig Wiseman. It’s called ‘Love Story.’”

Swift also sang “Better Man,” a song she wrote that Little Big Town recorded, earning Swift a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Song.

“When I would play writers nights … I didn’t have the experience of a writer writing something and then it going out into the world and you hearing it from someone else’s perspective until recently,” Swift said. “Little Big Town gave me the opportunity to feel that way … to be at the Bluebird and play a song you’ve maybe heard on the radio. I will always be forever grateful to them for that.”

Ballerini might be in a different genre than Swift, but they still have plenty in common, including their love of writing songs. And like Swift, Ballerini says she doesn’t plan on recording songs she didn’t write.

“I will always write every song,” Ballerini told The Boot. “I’m an artist because I’m a songwriter. And I think that’s part of my story that we didn’t really tell a lot from the first record. We put out singles like ‘Dibs’ and ‘Love Me Like You Mean It’ and ‘Yeah Boy’ – that shows the fun, flirty side of me as an artist. But this time around, I want people to know I’m a songwriter.”

Ballerini’s sophomore Unapologetically album was released last year and is available for download on iTunes. She is nominated for two ACM Awards, for Female Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year, for “Legends.”

The 2018 ACM Awards will air live on Sunday, April 15, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas at 8:00 PM on CBS.

Photo Credit: Instagram/KelseaBallerini