Getting Personal With Kelsea Ballerini

What did she think about the song?

She loves it. Her first reaction was, “Kelsea, do you think that I’m not proud of you?” I was like, “No, mom. I’ve never thought that.” One of my favorite lyrics is, “Maybe I ran all the red lights / Maybe we got into a few fights.” It’s so simple, but it symbolizes so much.

When you were working on the album, where did you look for inspiration?

I didn’t have to look far. I was turning 30, coming out of the craziest year of my life. There was a lot to write about.

I was looking at the credits of the album—it was incredible seeing all the female collaborators.

I made the whole record with four other women.

Can you tell me a little bit about that? Was that your idea? How did you find them? Did you know who you wanted?

It was my idea, but it wasn’t planned. I was very slow to start making this record because last year was the busiest year of my life. I really wanted the space to live a life to write about, so I wasn’t just putting fluff with a good beat out into the world. So when I was ready to start the process, I wanted to do it with people that I felt safe to throw paint at the wall and figure out what this next chapter of music was going to sound like. I called four of my friends who are just massively talented and successful women, and we went away for three days and ended up writing three of the songs on the record.

Then I decided to just shut and lock the door. I was like, I want to do this whole thing with you guys. Think-tank style, where we can all take the time to exist together in this chapter of life and collaborate.

That sounds like a dream for a female artist.

It was awesome. It was so safe. That’s why I used “womanhood” as one of the words to describe Patterns. Having women who are all different ages, some are mothers, some are in relationships, some are single—we all had all these different perspectives to add in. What that does for conversation leads to songs.