Kelsea Ballerini admitted she “didn’t know where to start,” when she began working on Patterns.
The East Tennessee-born country artist released her fifth studio record on October 25. Patterns follows Subject To Change and Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, a surprise EP and accompanying short film that shared Ballerini’s story of heartache and moving forward after divorce. The EP garnered a stronger response from fans than Ballerini anticipated, and she “put this immense pressure” on herself to deliver a powerful follow-up record.
Patterns arrived with deeply vulnerable ballads and vibrantly energetic anthems throughout the 15-track project. It includes “Sorry Mom,” “Baggage,” “First Rodeo,” “Two Things,” “WAIT!,” “I Would, Would You” and more. Ballerini created the record with an all-female team of songwriters and producers, and marked her first full-length project without a track written solely by her (a moment of “growth,” she said, as she previously felt the need to “prove” herself as a songwriter). Ballerini said as she spoke with Kelly Clarkson about Patterns on The Kelly Clarkson Show earlier this week:
“I didn’t know where to start with this record. It’s my fifth album. But I put out an EP last year called Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, and it connected differently than anything else I’d ever put out. So, I put this immense pressure on myself to be like, ‘follow it up well.’ And then I was like, ‘how do I do this?’ And so, I made this whole record with women because I was like, this is how I feel safe. Jessie Jo Dillion, Alysa Vanderheym, Hillary Lindsey, who I know we both die over, and Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town. …We went away. we went to East Tennessee, where I’m from, outside of St. Louis, and the Bahamas. That was a girls trip. We just wrote this whole record, but it was like — it was womanhood. It was so grounded in that warmth. and we would have wine and then we would have conversations, and then we’d cry, and then we’d write a song. There was so much space around it. They held space for me. It wasn’t just, ‘let’s get in at 11 and out by 3.’ …They walked life with me for a year and a half, and we made a record that I’m so proud of.”
Ballerini previously said while creating Patterns, she took a “beautiful and brutal look into myself and the people I love the most. The celebrations and challenges in the name of betterment, growth, and all around elevated vibes. The healthy habits that I hold close and the ones that gotta go.” Ballerini marked the album’s release with a sold out show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, featuring sister duos Aly & AJ and Tigirlily Gold. Next, she’s gearing up for her first-ever headlining arena tour with special guests Maisie Peters and Marynn Taylor.
After Patterns arrived, Ballerini confirmed she would release two bonus tracks as a digital download on her website for a limited time. One of those bonus tracks was “To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak,” a highly-requested love song that Balleirni previously teased on TikTok and performed at the Grand Ole Opry with songwriters Fairchild and Lindsey. Ballerini teamed up with Clarkson to perform a stunning duet version of the song on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Watch it here: