“It’s about the complexities of the feelings you go through during a massive shift at a young age,” Kelsea said — who confirmed her divorce from singer Morgan Evans last year — about her new project, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat
Morgan Evans and Kelsea Ballerini. MIKE COPPOLA/GETTYIMAGES
Ballerini, a country singer-songwriter, released the six-track EP on Tuesday along with a moving short film that depicts her struggling to express her feelings to a romantic partner while thinking about the end of her marriage.
In a statement, Ballerini referred to Rolling Up the Welcome Mat as the next chapter of her most recent album, SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
She said “When I listen to SUBJECT TO CHANGE, I hear a lot of self-reflection and turmoil. This is the deep dive into that turmoil,” she continue “I was writing by myself for most of the project, and it was nice to trust myself again.”
Ballerini said “I started writing music because my parents got divorced”
She continued by saying that the inspiration for her songs came from writing as a form of therapy through difficult times. “The only way I’ve been able to handle my life since I was 12 was to write about it. Ironically, I started writing music because my parents got divorced; that was my therapy,”
Kelsea Ballerini. MARY KOUW/CBS VIA PHOTO: GETTY
“These are six songs I wish I had last year. It’s about the complexities of the feelings you go through during a massive shift at a young age,” she said of the project. “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was how I processed everything. It’s the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music — which is the purest way I could’ve handled it.”
The Grammy nominee Ballerini says, “I’m wearing the ring still / But I think I’m lying / Sometimes you forget yours / I think we’re done trying,” sings Ballerini — who wed Evans when she was 24 — on the chorus. “I realize you loved me much more at 23 / I think that this is when it’s over for me.”
The second song, “Just Married,” sees the singer recognizing that once the initial excitement of their marriage had passed, she was just going through the motions.: “It was a beautiful wedding / Sometimes I still taste the Veuve / And dammit I wish I wasn’t this ready / To undo I do.”
The album’s final track, “Leave Me Again,”
The album’s final track, “Leave Me Again,” was seemingly composed after the couple breakup and finds Ballerini daydreaming about what her ex is up to right now.
And Ballerini makes it clear she’s no longer willing to compromise: “For a while the shoe fit / But then I outgrew it / And staying only made me get real good at pretend / So, I hope I never leave me again.” But the most important message is that even through her grief, she’s found herself.
