Kelsea Ballerini and ‘The Voice’ are the right match at the right time

Country star Kelsea Ballerini is a believer in listing goals and setting intentions, and a couple of Christmases ago, she sat down with her manager to recap the year. She remembers asking him, “You’re the closest to me, you have the eagle eye — what can I do better?”

His response: “Start acting like you’ve earned the rooms that you’re in. You’re not new anymore.”

It was something she says she really needed to hear. Despite her accomplishments — platinum-selling No. 1 country singles, sold-out concerts around the world, TV hosting gigs — it was easy for her to still feel like the high schooler who moved to Nashville and saw the skeptical looks on executives’ faces when she announced plans to be a singer-songwriter. Years later, Ballerini felt that she struggled to be taken seriously by the male-dominated country music industry, where there’s sometimes a sense that, as she put it, “You’re as good as the male songwriter you’re in the room with.”

But Ballerini, who will be up for best country duo/group performance at Sunday’s Grammy Awards for her “Cowboys Cry Too” duet with Noah Kahan, now makes it a priority to trust her instincts and speak up when she wants something. As Blake Shelton prepared to exit as a coach on NBC’s “The Voice” in 2023, Ballerini had dinner with the show’s executive producer, who was in Nashville scouting a new country star to replace Shelton.

Ballerini didn’t sit back and just hope they knew how much she wanted the job. She said exactly what was on her mind.

“This is so unlike me, but I was so proud of myself,” Ballerini, 31, said in a recent video interview from her Nashville home. “I leaned across the table and I said, ‘Hey, listen. I’m sure you are interviewing people that are legends. … But I want you to know, I really want this job and I promise you that I can do it. So when it’s the right time, if it’s the right time, I just want you to know that I can do this. And I really want to.’”

Her directness paid off — even if, as she suspected, they were interviewing legends: Reba McEntire landed the gig for the next three seasons post-Shelton. But then Ballerini got the call asking her to join as a coach for Season 27, which premieres Monday. She will join John Legend, Michael Bublé and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. The reality singing competition series may not be in its ratings heyday, but it remains one of the most-watched shows on network TV and catapulted Shelton from a hit country singer to a household name.

The “Voice” gig comes after a game-changing stretch for Ballerini. In February 2023, she dropped an EP called “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” about her divorce from fellow country singer Morgan Evans. The songs took off in a way that no one, including Ballerini, was expecting, and led to a new chapter of fame and scrutiny. She recently embarked on her first arena tour; her fifth studio album, “Patterns,” released in October, became her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.

“I think we caught Kelsea at a perfect time,” said Audrey Morrissey, showrunner and executive producer of “The Voice.” Ballerini briefly appeared on the show a couple of times in earlier seasons, so Morrissey already thought she might be a good fit as a full-time coach. But Ballerini made “a big impression” when she advocated for herself during that aforementioned dinner, making it clear that she had the ideal amount of industry experience to be a mentor to new singers.

“She has enough under her belt and she’s got a lot to give back — and she’s right in it herself, so she can be really relatable about what she’s going through,” Morrissey said.

Ballerini’s climb up country music’s ladder checked every box: She embarked on a grueling radio tour and was the first female artist to have her first three singles from her debut album go No. 1 — a rare achievement when only about 10% of songs on country stations are by women. She became a staple at industry trophy shows, co-hosting the CMT Music Awards for years, and performed at songwriter nights and the Grand Ole Opry.

With cleverly written hooks, her pop-country songs broadened her appeal with audiences. She opened for pop stars on tour (Kelly Clarkson; Jonas Brothers) and unlike a lot of country singers, she wasn’t afraid to make a statement, whether speaking up about gender equity on country radio or inviting drag queens to perform with her when Tennessee was enacting laws to criminalize drag shows in public spaces. But her big moment arrived with the “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” EP, a brutally honest look at the dissolution of her marriage and her anxiety about the future.

Ballerini, always a candid songwriter, alarmed some in her inner circle with the specificity in the lyrics (one line revealed that her lawyer warned her about sharing too much), but the EP was an enormous success and nominated for best country album at the Grammys. Listeners let her know how the songs helped them heal from their own breakups. She landed a performance spot-on “Saturday Night Live” and was invited on Spotify’s behemoth “Call Her Daddy” podcast. Ballerini and Alysa Vanderheym, one of her closest friends who co-wrote and co-produced the EP, were stunned by the response.

“Neither of us set out to make that to get any kind of, like, critical acclaim or attention or anything like that,” Vanderheym said. “I’m so glad that it happened, because it’s so good to see her in her power. Not that she wasn’t before, but I think it showed her that she could really stretch a boundary and risks can pay off.”

Ballerini took those lessons into “Patterns,” aware that she had a new flood of listeners after her previous project hit so deeply with so many fans.

“I felt a different level of pressure to make my next record. I felt like there were more ears than there had ever been on my music and more eyeballs on me than there ever had been as an artist,” Ballerini said. “And I felt for the first time, with ‘Welcome Mat,’ that people finally believed that I was a songwriter — and all those things made me feel really nervous to deliver something equally as well-received.”

Ballerini broke from her previous tradition of writing at least one song by herself on every album, as a way to counter anyone who doubted her songwriting skills. This time, she co-wrote each track with a trusted group of collaborators and hit songwriters, all women: Vanderheym, Hillary Lindsey, Jessie Jo Dillon, Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town. “That, to me, was personal growth. It had nothing to do with anyone else … I felt like I had grown out of that need to prove to myself, I guess.”

The album continues Ballerini’s penchant for blending country and pop. The lyrics capture the whirlwind of emotions that occur in one’s early 30s. Vanderheym said the album’s original title was “Did You Make It Home?” but that “Patterns” — forming them, breaking them, rethinking them — better captured the overarching theme.

The songs dig into the value of friendship (“I Would, Would You”), family (“Sorry Mom”) and keeping existential fears in perspective (“Nothing Really Matters”), as well as how to navigate new relationships as adults with complicated pasts. In the latter, titled “Baggage,” Ballerini gives a wink to her last album: “Boy, I know the weight and gravity of key chains with same keys / But if you want that welcome mat, then roll it out with me.”

At a sold-out album release show at Madison Square Garden in New York in October, many in the packed crowd already memorized “Baggage.” At this point, her fans are deeply invested in her past as well as her present and future with her boyfriend, “Outer Banks” actor Chase Stokes. When Ballerini briefly broke down while singing “Penthouse,” a ballad about how her marriage looked perfect on the outside while the reality was much different, the audience helped by sing-screaming the words for her.

“As Kelsea has gotten older and her fans have gotten older, I think it just goes into a deeper, more real relationship between her and fans,” Vanderheym said. “And the fact that she’s so willing to spill her guts — I think she’s rewarded for that with their loyalty.”

At “The Voice,” Morrissey predicted that viewers will be drawn to Ballerini, whom she described as a “glamorous girl-next-door” type.

“Kelsea just wears her heart on her sleeve … she’s just like a running commentary, but she’s also very thoughtful,” Morrissey said. She added that Ballerini brings a unique perspective, much like Nashville duo Dan + Shay did last year. “It’s nice to sort of turn our attention to some of the younger superstars of country.”

When Ballerini first arrived on set, Morrisey said, she charmed her fellow coaches — Legend, Bublé and Levine — by gifting them with custom cowboy hats. Once again, Ballerini felt like the new kid, but she’s determined to take all of the lessons she’s compiled to impart wisdom to her incoming mentees on the show.

“Am I the newest coach on that panel? Absolutely. Do they have a track record that far exceeds mine? 100%,” Ballerini said. “But do I still have something to offer from the 10 years that I’ve had a career? Absolutely.”