Kelsea Ballerini Doesn’t Pack Light and She’s Okay With It

Have you been doing any fun travel this summer?

Paris with my girlfriends, that was unplanned and so, so fun. And then I’m doing little things, like I could go back home tomorrow, but I’m loving New York so much that I’m extending my time up here and I’m going to go see Death Becomes Her [on Broadway] and eat some food. So yeah, I’m just trying to do little things. Every year I like to do a solo trip, a girls trip, and then a couples trip. So one by one.

What are your favorite things to do in New York?

I love walking aimlessly here. Just putting on the Crime Junkie podcast and going. I’ll always find a cool store or coffee shop or restaurant or whatever. I’ll go to the bar and order a little app and then keep going, and I just love it.

Are you planning any travel around the Australia leg of your tour, in the winter?

I haven’t been since 2019, and I love Australia, and it’s a bitch to get to, so I think if you’re going to go for work you’ve got to build some play into it, too. Even just to counteract the jet lag. So I’m definitely going to get there early and maybe stay after. Maybe New Zealand, too, which is magical—and nothing kills you there, did you know that? No snakes, no spiders, no sharks, no fire ants, you can just chill.

What city do you think speaks the most to your soul, out of anywhere in the world?

Nashville. I love Nashville so much. It’s changed a lot, I’ve been there 16 years, but I don’t know, I just love that even as it’s grown you can go downtown and there’s always something so alive. And then you can drive 20 minutes and you’re in the middle of nowhere, like just beautiful farmland. So there’s a bit of a duality to it still, and I think that’s special.

Where’s one city that you haven’t been to yet that you think will speak to your soul?

Man, there are so many places. I really want to go to Rome. Rome, Barcelona—I want more time in Europe. To connect with my roots, you know.

Is there anything else that you have coming up that you’re excited about?

You know, two years ago it would have given me a complex to look at you and say, I honestly don’t know what I’m doing right now. But now I can look you in the eye and say I really don’t know what I’m doing right now, and I kind of love it. Honestly, now, I think I have the space where something wonderful can come in and I can say yeah, let’s do it. Whether it’s music or anything else. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be great.