Top 88 Kelsea Ballerini Quotes

When I was 15, my mom and I packed everything up and moved to Nashville so I could pursue my dream in music.

I’ve gotten to be part of a lot of incredible tours and have learned so much from the people I’ve had the opportunity to open for.

I’ve always been drawn to the message of ‘Be yourself. Love yourself.’ I need to be reminded of that all time.

I want to be a good person first and a good artist second.

I just want to be real and who I am. That’s something I’d feel comfortable with any little girl looking up to, so that’s who I try to be.

I did ballet, jazz, and all that, but I think hip-hop is really where I learned rhythm and groove, which has helped me in music.

The Grammys are just the pinnacle of music.

I wanted to be the girl that talks about getting a guy. I felt like that was a different approach to writing.

I always thought it was a goat that kicked me over the fence. My mama told me the other day it was a cow. Now I’m sort of scared of both.

I’m not super traditional at all.

In my opinion, it’s all about the song and the performance, not the gender.

Growing up in east Tennessee gave me my country roots, my twang, and a lot of my stories.

My favorite songwriting trick is writing something like ‘XO.’ In my brain, I thought, ‘This is probably going to be a love song. How can I change that and find ways to twist that.’ As a songwriter, it’s your job for the song to take twists and turns that people don’t expect.

I think that every time a country artist steps outside of the country boundary, it just brings more ears to us.

I used to walk around trying to do the Britney Spears growl: ‘Oh, baby, baby.’

I’ve studied live shows and artists for so long. I got the tour documentaries and all that and watched them. I love a show. I love an artist that can do all of it.

Before I really knew country music, I listened to pop, and I still do.

The artists that I relate to and love the most are the ones where I can listen to the record, and I can know them better, and for me, that’s writing it.

I get to remind myself and other people to be yourself, to rock you who you are, and don’t worry about if it fits.

You really do have to be different. You really do have to set yourself apart.

I try to be a good person. I love Jesus.

When I was 13, I started writing songs, and it fell into my lap all of a sudden. I wrote poems and journals, but that’s when it switched for me to songwriting. That’s when I wanted to do everything. It was like a fire all of a sudden. I started coming to Nashville and moved here when I was 15.

I remember telling myself when I got to start having artist opportunities, ‘Let yourself be a fan, because you are. The minute that you walk in a room with Carrie Underwood, and you’re too cool to freak out, you need to check yourself.’ I just let myself be a fan.

‘Peter Pan,’ I think, was a game-changer. That was the first song that really had some heartbeat to it… I think that’s the song that got people’s attention.

Honestly, I was a fan before I got the opportunity to be an artist. I was the kind of fan who would stand in line or post a cover video.

I’m basically always writing. Why wouldn’t I? I love it.

I starting writing when I was about 13 or 14 years old.

As a fan, I connect with realness. Whether it’s strong or vulnerable, if it’s real, I can connect with it.

The whole heartbeat of the first record is young, which I think is what made it relatable to young girls.

I see little girls at my meet-and-greets who are like, ‘Kelsea! It’s my first concert and I came to see you.’ And I’m thinking, ‘I don’t want to post anything online that your mom would be mad at me for, because you’re important to me.’

I have a huge appreciation for music in general, but my roots are country.

My theory is the root of a country artist is truth and honesty. For me, I look at Sam Hunt. The truth and the honest thing is we have southern roots, we were raised in a southern way, but we listen to Drake and other stuff, too.

I love Taylor Swift, and I’ve always been such a fan of her.

With Rascal Flatts, I’m such a fan of them, and I feel like they’ve been so gracefully relevant through decades of country music.

When I was 12, I was going through an awkward time. Writing music helped me find my voice and express the things I was feeling.

I love getting facials. I’ve even started doing microdermabrasion to keep all the makeup and dirt out of my pores. And when I’m traveling, I’ll always grab a moisturizing face mask.

When Florida Georgia Line and Nelly put out the ‘Cruise’ remix, it brought so many more people to country music.

I love pop music. I listen to it; I think you can hear it in my songwriting and my album. I’d definitely say it’s country-pop music, but it’s country first.

I love pop music. I’ve tried to always be honest about that.

I’m in this wave with Maddie & Tae and RaeLynn and Mickey Guyton and Cam. We’re all kind of finding our niches and becoming successful. I think that it’s just been really fun to be with them and do this all together.

My biggest dream is to headline an arena tour.

I listen to everything. I sing country music, but I listen to different stuff.

Women in country music have always been a staple and always been important.

I was this little blond girl with a guitar case bigger than me – it was pink and sparkly at the time. But I always took myself seriously, and I think that people took that seriously. I would tell them about my goal list, and they listened. I was like, ‘I want to be the one that swings the pendulum.’

I love when an artist can stand by themselves and play their guitar and hold a crowd, but I also love bells and whistles.

I just want to make the best music I can make.

I am such a girly girl, and I love not playing it safe. I’m so new to this world, so it’s fun to establish myself as a fashionista.

I grew up loving music and being super involved in church choir and school musicals and such, but when I started writing is when I fell in love with the idea of doing it for the rest of my life.

Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum is like my big sister.

Always wash your face before you go to bed – skin care is key.

I try to be as honest as I can in writing. That’s what ends up translating and relating to people.

I wouldn’t be an artist if I didn’t have Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift to look up to.

I love that on country radio, you can hear a George Strait song, and the next is Sam Hunt. I love that there’s such a variety.

I’ve always been drawn to strong women in every genre, people who push the boundaries because they’re just epic.

I grew up performing in glee club at my school; I was the ostrich in ‘Peter Pan,’ and then I was super-involved in church choir and worship leading at my church. So I always loved music and was involved with it, but never really thought it was what I wanted to do until I started writing.

I get travel-sized versions of all of my essentials. That way, I can stay on the same routine whether I’m home or on the road.

I really want people to know I’m a songwriter.

‘The First Time’ is a song that I wrote by myself on my front porch, in real-time, as that situation was happening to me.

The thing that’s been most important to me is being interactive with people that are listening to my music.

I was a huge Jonas Brothers fan, unapologetically, when I was 12 or 13.

It’s been really cool to me to watch someone like Sam Hunt, whose lyrics and roots are in country but you can hear that he listens to Drake and Justin Timberlake – and that’s OK. It allows songwriters to be more honest because it’s like, ‘This is who I’m listening to.’

I went to my first CMA Music Fest when I was 14 and waited in line for two hours to meet two people: Taylor Swift and Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum. It’s very ironic but not accidental that those two people refer to me as their ‘little sister’ now.

It wasn’t supposed to work – being a new artist, a female artist, an artist on an independent. That’s what made it so much sweeter when we hit No. 1.

Sometimes, if I really just need to unwind and kind of watch something that isn’t gonna stress me out or have drama in it, I watch ‘Spongebob.’

I grew up on a farm in eastern Tennessee with a very southern lifestyle, so my roots are super country and southern, but my first concert was Britney Spears. I think that you can hear both of those influences in my music.

I have a picture of me with Lady Antebellum, when they released their first single and I was at CMA Fest as a fan. I’m in flower-power shorts and a headband – so not cute – and I’m fan-girling next to Hillary. I couldn’t believe I was standing next to her.

I think that I’ve just kind of found my niche, if that makes sense. I still write the same, but I feel like I’ve found what separates me, and I always try to stay in that when I write. It took me a long time to discover that, so I try to be protective.