Kelsea Ballerini takes a whole new direction lyrically and sonically in Kelsea . We review the record and reveal our standout tracks.
Kelsea Ballerini has certainly transformed since her first studio album ‘The First Time‘ back in 2015 that thrust her into the spotlight. ‘Unapologetically‘ saw her take an increasingly mature look at her life and her situation, so ‘Kelsea’ her third studio album sees Ballerini getting increasingly introspective at various aspects of her life. Sonically, the album is a move away from her Nashville roots imbibing many elements of the ‘LA’ music scene where she wrote most of this record. The record is diverse in the material that it covers, from feeling like an outsider and not fitting in in ‘LA,’ to seeking emotional support from her female friends in ‘Love Me Like A Girl,’ to being emotionally raw and vulnerable in ‘Homecoming Queen?’ There is definitely a sense that Ballerini has matured in the years since ‘Unapologetically’ in 2018, however the sonic diversity of the record begs the question of where she wants this new record to take her. At times, the songwriting and production on this record move firmly into a new pop sound. Even when she is writing with a host of Nashville-acclaimed songwriters, including Nicolle Gallyon, Ross Copperman, Jimmy Robbins and Shane MacAnally, the sheer number of writers on several tracks seem to suggest that Ballerini is moving further toward pop writing, where a greater number of co-writers appear on each track. Indeed, ‘The Way I Used To’ has seven co-writers, something unheard of on a ‘country’ album.
The record opens with the track ‘overshare’ that Ballerini herself, for some time, believed would be the title of the track. The phrasing of this track is incredibly clever, with Ballerini tripping easily over her vocals, a clever track detailing her own tendency to ‘overshare, because I over care, about the person over there who’s completely unaware.’ Ballerini offers a refreshingly funny and honest portrayal of her own insecurities and psyche. From the off, Ballerini sets her sonic agenda, to bridge the gap between pop and country, and this track does stick firmly in the head. However, unlike her previous material, the lyrics do not feel clever but err into cloying. So too, follow up track ‘club’ finds Kelsea singing about not wanting to go to a club in a very ‘millenial’ sounding track.
Kelsea is – for me – at her best stripped back and lead out single ‘homecoming queen?’ is one of the high points of the record, seeing Ballerini get raw and vulnerable. Perhaps this is why the rest of the record doesn’t quite seem to stick, where the strength lyrically and sonically of this track does not sum up the record as a whole. Instead, the track sticks out, lending to the somewhat disjointed feel of the record as a whole creation.
‘the other girl’ is one of the weaker points on the record. Halsey, who seems to have been somewhat adopted into the country family since her duet with Lady Antebellum, overwhelms the track with her throaty vocals. Though, her vocals do compliment Ballerini’s softer tone, Halsey’s part overwhelms throughout as they together try to work out who ‘the other girl’ is in the relationship with a cheating man. This is one of the moments on the record, when Ballerini firmly stakes her claim in the pop world, unlike the forgettable trio of tracks that follow. ‘love me like a girl,’ ‘love and hate’ and ‘bragger’ don’t quite hit the mark in what they are all achieving to do, attempting to straddle country and pop, they instead land in no man’s land.
Surprisingly, pre-released track ‘Hole in the Bottle,’ a fun and playful song about Ballerini’s love for wine, is one of the most ‘country’ moments on the album, reminiscent of Brad Paisley’s ‘Alcohol.’ The track is incredibly catchy, with unusual but perfectly delivered production, opening with a vintage speech about a woman encouraging people to enjoy liquor in the healthy way, before Ballerini moves in singing about her capacity to finish off a bottle of wine, blaming it on the ‘hole in the bottle of wine.’ The track is clever and fun, and is bound to be a hit in her live sets. Followed up by ‘Half of my Hometown,’ these two tracks together form the high point of the record. Here, Ballerini gets reflective about the town where she grew up – Knoxville, Tennessee – divided between those who moved on and those who held onto their glory days, ‘still talking about that one touch down.’ The addition of Chesney’s distinctive vocal is the masterstroke here to make it the standout track on the record, it is both catchy and full of nostalgia. The magic in the lyrics is supplied by Ballerini’s ability to empathise with both sounds, acknowledging that she herself is nostalgic for her hometown. ‘All I wanna do is make them, proud.’
This moment of magic is broken in the record with forgettable track, ‘the way I used to,’ – incidentally the track packing the biggest punch in terms of pop songwriters, including Cass Lowe (Boys, Charli XCX) and Julian Bunetta (One Direction). The track, detailing an inability to move on from an ex-lover, is filled with pop-tinged production, and feels like an unnatural transition from ‘Half of my Hometown.’ So too, ‘country song’ is far from country – titling the track thus does not make it one – and actually seems more like a thank you to the genre that has served a purpose.
Final track in the album is Ballerini’s solo write on the album, ‘la,’ revealing her complicated relationship with the pop capital. At first glance, the track reads as a poor little rich girl track, but beneath the surface are instantly relatable themes on feeling insecure and left-out. As Ballerini herself revealed in an interview with Bobby Bones, the track, more than other, shows her moving on from the genre in some respects. ‘Will Tennessee be mad at me?’ The track more than anything sums up the record as a whole, Ballerini’s place somewhere in between pop and country, and her indecision between the two and whether she will settle in LA. For me, this is where the weakness of the record comes in – in trying to imbibe both, Ballerini achieves neither. With the record ending on this track, it feels clear that Ballerini is setting the stage for the next phase of her music and career, movement away from her Tennessee roots. It is to be determined whether the country scene will embrace this transition.
Standout Tracks
homecoming queen
half of my hometown
hole in the bottle
