GROWING FORWARD

Country singer KELSEA BALLERINI is working harder than ever to shake (and remake) old patterns that no longer serve her. Here, she opens up about her intentional journey and shares her mental health musts.

- AMY WILKINSON

KELSEA BALLERINI may be one of the most self-aware 31-year-olds on the planet.

Her understanding of self is a consequence, at least in part, of her profession. As a Grammynominated artist, Kelsea relies on a readily accessible well of thoughts and feelings to draw upon to articulate her worldview through song.

But the rest of that enlightenment, well, that comes from a lot of hard work-work that is evident on her album Patterns, out October 25.

"Thematically, this record is a love letter to self-assessment," Kelsea says, sounding more Nietzsche than Nashville as she explains the inspiration behind her fifth studio effort. For Kelsea, Patterns isn't simply an album title it's a call to action as she settles into her 30s, navigating new opportunities and new love.

"I crammed so much life into my 20s, and I've done a lot of work to be able to stand by all that life, learn a lot from it, and appreciate all of it for what it's been," she says.

"[Patterns] is about finding the ones that serve you and appreciating and celebrating those, and then finding the ones that don'twhere they come from and how they relate to your interpersonal relationships."

The ability to recognize and break unhealthy or unfulfilling patterns is a skill Kelsea has spent the past three decades growing into-through mental health practices, like therapy, and slightly more woo-woo interests, like astrology and the occasional visit to a psychic-and it's one she's still working on today. "Ironically, self-awareness has not stopped me from doing things that I know are not healthy for me," she admits ruefully.

AN ONLY CHILD raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kelsea began songwriting at age 12-around the time her parents, Ed and Carla, divorced. As part of her parents' divorce proceedings, Kelsea attended court-mandated therapy sessions.