Kelsea Ballerini Says Timing Of ‘The Voice’ ‘Worked Out Beautifully’

Kelsea Ballerini has always been a busy woman but now she's preparing for the role of a lifetime, in the judge's seat, for season 27 of The Voice. The country star will join the judges panel in 2025 alongside Michael Bublé, John Legend, and Adam Levine.

This is not the first time Ballerini has worked with the singing competition. The “Cowboys Cry Too" singer was previously the first-ever coach of the comeback stage, a battle advisor, and even filled in for Kelly Clarkson during season 20 of The Voice.

"Between the three of those experiences, I was like, I think I really want to do this. I'm so uncomfortable, but I like it," Ballerini said.

She continued, "I'm not writing a song or singing my song on stage. It's just like a different part of the job, I guess. And, it's also on TV and a lot of people watch it, and that's terrifying."

Almost two years ago, when fellow country star Blake Shelton left the show, producers from The Voice were visiting Nashville. They were in town to interview several artists for the gig, including herself. They took to dinner, but she did not know who else was on the list.

"At the end of dinner, something just came over me and I looked at them and I said, 'Hey. I really want this, and I know that you're probably talking to a lot of people that have a bigger track record and all the things, but I just want you to know that I know I can do this and I really want to do this, so I just want you to hear that from me.' I walked away and I was like, well, who is that? Who is she? And so, yeah, then the call came for this next season," Ballerini explained.

Ballerini went on to say, "Luckily, you know, I was like, no, I didn't get it last year. Then 'Rolling Up The Welcome Mat' happened. I was able to have the time to like really tour it and really, really put my focus into that music, which is the most important thing to me. So it really worked out beautifully and I'm very excited."

The 30-year-old follows in the footsteps of fellow country singers including Shelton, Dan + Shay, and Reba McEntire, as well as Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Usher, Nick Jonas, and more who have all served as a judge on The Voice.

As Kelsea Ballerini celebrates her 30th birthday today (9/12), she is in New York City getting ready to make her MTV VMA debut performance. She is expected to treat fans to a world premiere performance from the expanded version of her EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good).

Ballerini posted the news to Instagram. The announcement was captioned, "Boots: On Welcome Mats: Rolled OUT @kelseaballerini is making her #VMA DEBUT!! Watch her perform LIVE on Tuesday, September 12 on @mtv!"

The 2023 VMAs will air live from New Jersey's Prudential Center tonight (9/12) at 8 PM ET/PT.

Kelsea's career has really exploded in the last couple of years as she was recently nominated for the CMA's 2023 Female Vocalist of the Year among country mainstays like Miranda Lambert, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, and Lainey Wilson. She is also nominated for a CMA this year for the coveted Album of the Year honor for her EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat.

This year (2023), she enjoyed three sold-out legs of her "Heartfirst Tour," and a Grammy nomination in February for Best Country Solo Performance for "Heartfirst."

In 2021, Ballerini won two CMA Awards for her duet with Kenny Chesney, "Half My Hometown" for Musical Event and Video of the Year. Also, in 2021, She won a CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year for "The Other Girl" with Halsey.

In August, she gathered with fans and the music industry in Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame to celebrate the release of her extended Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP.

Kelsea said, "Even when we were recording Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, I knew it wasn't the end of the story. We couldn't know what was to come, so [collaborator] Alysa [Vanderheym] and I left the project exactly as it was when it was written and recorded... and because of the open dialogue I have with my fans, it only felt right to finish this story before starting on the next chapter of my life."

She also directed a short film that accompanied the project.

As we join Kelsea in celebration of her birthday today, we thought we would revisit what we believe are her five funniest songs to date.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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."