Kelsea Ballerini Drops Controversial Album 'Subject To Change': 'I'm A Little Nervous For People To Hear'

Kelsea Ballerini is no stranger to uncomfortable situations, especially after the announcement of her divorce from Morgan Evans which hit the newsstands a couple of weeks ago.

However, as she bares her soul in her newly released album "Subject To Change," she is a bit nervous to see what people will think of some songs on the album.

"There are songs on this record that I'm a little nervous for people to hear," she confessed in her interview with Consequence.

One of the songs included in the album is a song entitled "Doin' My Best," where she sang about a past friendship: "I was friends with a pop star / I put 'em on track four, but / Wish I could take it back, I woulda never asked / If I knew we wouldn't talk anymore."

According to reports, fans speculate that the pop star she is referring to is her old pal Halsey, who happened to work with her for the fourth track of her 2020 album, "Kelsea," entitled "The Other Girl."

When asked about the identity of the person she is singing about, Ballerini replied, "The intention behind that lyric-because I do feel like I do have to say this-it is not meant to be a shady lyric."

'Life Is Messy'

"Subject To Change" boasts 15 songs-14 of which were co-written by Ballerini and one she wrote solely by herself.

"I'm a human, and life is messy, and there's some things that I wanted to take ownership for, [sic]" she said during a podcast episode of "Rob + Holly Show."

"It's a little embarrassing and a little cringey, but that's my human experience."

"I wanted to acknowledge all of the things that people have watched happen in my life and just go, 'Yep. Here's the messiness. I'm owning it, I'm doing my best," she continued.

She revealed that the song was "extra" significant to her because it is an extremely short excerpt of her thoughts. In New Year's eve, she shared, she found herself journaling only to throw out all "seven pages of bulls**t."

She explained that the journal entry was essentially a rant "about everything about [her] not being good enough." She eventually decided to narrow it down to one phrase: "I'm doing my best."

Women

Despite going through some tough times recently, especially after the announcement of her divorce, Ballerini has found solace in other friendships.

The only song on the album that has featuring artists is "You're Drunk Go Home," a song she collaborated with Kelly Clarkson and Carly Pearce.

She revealed that it was supposedly not included in the album, however, the song "creatively demanded it."

"I was kind of dead set on not collaborating on this album, just because I feel like I've done a lot of collaborating recently," she said to Billboard.

However, when she and her co-writers finished writing the song, she explained that it would be better if it was sung by a trio of women.

"So I thought, 'Who are the women in my life that are artists that have both of those things?' Carly and I have been friends for, like, 10 years [...] We've always wanted to do a song together, and this made sense," she said.

Ballerini admitted that the "biggest ask" she could make was Kelly Clarkson, and so she reached out to the singer in the morning, and by the evening, Clarkson sent in her vocals.

"I definitely intentionally like wanted to write with more women this time," she said.

"Just naturally, like when you're making a record about emotions when you connect with a woman creatively, you're gonna be able to tap into that in a whole different way. I certainly found that."

Tags

Kelsea Ballerini, New Album