Kelsea Ballerini Shares ‘Leave Me Again’ Live Performance Video

Author Lauren Hoffman

December 20th, 2023 11:25 AM

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - NOVEMBER 08: EDITORIAL USE ONLY Kelsea Ballerini performs onstage during the 57th Annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on November 08, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images)

On November 2, Kelsea Ballerini returned to Knoxville, Tennessee, for her headlining “Homecoming Show” at the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. The country star is now releasing a live video performance of “Leave Me Again” from her sold-out show.

RELATED: Kelsea Ballerini Unveils “How Do I Do This” Music Video

Ballerini’s “Leave Me Again” is featured on her 2023 EP, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. The 30-year-old penned the emotional yet honest track following her divorce from Morgan Evans last year.

“But life has a way of bringing you back to why you do what you do. And life did that for me. And I wrote an EP called Rolling Up The Welcome Mat about it. That has just changed my life in the most meaningful and unexpected way. And I just want to say thank you for not looking away when things weren’t pretty. And thanks for showing up when I wasn’t really able to do it for myself. But I am now because I learned out of all the lessons the one thing I really learned is I’ll never ever leave me again,” Ballerini told the crowd.

The lyrics include, “I hope you’re spending Christmas with your family / I hope you’re writing songs that you love / I hope you’re feeling happier than you’ve ever been / And I hope I never leave me again.”

Ballerini’s Rolling Up The Welcome Mat has garnered her the fourth Grammy nomination of her career, this one for Best Country Album. She is up against fellow country artists, including Lainey Wilson, Brothers Osborne, Tyler Childers, Brothers Osborne, and Zach Bryan, at the 2024 Grammy Awards, which will be held on Sunday, February 4.

The singer-songwriter recently graced the cover of TIME magazine for the publication’s TIME100 Next feature. Ballerini was honored with a written piece by Shania Twain and highlighted alongside quarterback Jalen Hurts and chef Mory Sacko with three worldwide covers.

Click below to watch Kelesea Ballerini perform “Leave Me Again.”

Top Five Fun Kelsea Ballerini Songs

"Yeah Boy" (2016)
A fun song found on her debut album, “The First Time.” The music video for the song is an ode to the 1990s. Ballerini is shown performing the song in a colorful bodysuit in front of a neon backdrop and a brick wall spray-painted with graffiti, with female backup dancers. When the song came out, Kelsea was touring with Rascal Flatts and headlining her own “The FirstTime Tour.”
"Heartfirst" (2022)
This is a song on Ballerini’s “Subject To Change” album, which seemed to catapult her to a new level of fame. Kelsea wrote the song with Alysa Vanderheym and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild in July 2021. According to Ballerini, it was the first song that she ever wrote where she did not come up with the title first; instead, the opening line, “Met him at a party / Accidentally brushed his body / On the way to get a drink at the bar” was the first lyric she wrote for the song.
"Dibs" (2015)
The fun song she named her dog after. The official music video for “Dibs” premiered on October 22, 2015. The video consists of footage Ballerini took while on tour in York, Pennsylvania, Greenville, South Carolina, and St. Leonard, Maryland, performing in front of live crowds, celebrating her 22nd birthday, and spending time with her dog. The chorus sings, Yeah, I’m callin’ dibs / On your lips / On your kiss / On your time / Boy, I’m callin’ dibs / On your hand / On your heart / All mine.”
"Hole in the Bottle" (2020)
Kelsea happily joins the country music ranks with a drinking song; a remix of the song featuring Shania Twain was released five months after the original single came out. The music video begins with a vintage black-and-white style with Ballerini dressed in flapper wardrobe reminiscent of the 1920s. Once the first chorus hits, colored scenes are introduced, and she is shown in a house painting a portrait of her dog Dibs in a field with a couple of friends who join her in lounging on a bed and performing a dance routine with the singer and playing chess with herself.
"If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)" (2022)
This song is a gem and puts Kelsea in the same company of “fun” murder songs like the Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.” Ballerini said when the song came out, it was actually to evoke thoughts of the 1991 film “Thelma & Louise” and The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl.” She told us then, “We really wanted to lean into a very ’90s country feel, and so we brought in fiddle for the song, which I think to me makes it. That’s also why there’s a Chicks reference to it, which everyone picks up on, which was absolutely intentional. I didn’t want to make it sound like anything else on the record. I wanted it to be its own moment.”