(L-R) Taylor Swift and Kelsea Ballerini Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Kelsea Ballerini is now a superstar in her own right, but there was a time when people couldn’t stop comparing her to Taylor Swift — and that wasn’t always helpful.
“My first ever experience, it was at an independent label that does not exist anymore, and I walked in and I played a song that I had written by myself, and he looked at me and he said, ‘Well, there’s already a Taylor Swift,’” Ballerini, 31, recalled during an interview on the October 27 episode of NBC’s Sunday Today With Willie Geist.
Later, after signing with a label, the “Sorry Mom” singer went to Swift, now 34, for advice. “I remember I asked her, I was like, ‘You know, I’m a girl on an independent label. So this is proving to be a little difficult for me,’” Ballerini said.
Swift, unsurprisingly, delivered some words of wisdom that really stuck with her fellow musician.
“She was like, ‘You have to become undeniable. Whatever that means to you, whatever that looks like for you. Then no one can tell you no, because what is no? You just, you pivot. Pivot, you know?’” Ballerini remembered Swift telling her.
The advice seems to have stuck, because Ballerini just released her fifth studio album, Patterns, and is set to hit the road next year in support of it. Her 2023 EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, was nominated for Best Country Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, and she earned a nod for Female Vocalist of the Year at last year’s Country Music Association Awards.
Earlier this month, Ballerini noted that she and Swift have remained friendly over the years, talking “every now and again” when they have the chance.
“Really, it’s just when I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, you added ‘Down Bad’ to the setlist, this is amazing!’ Normally it’s just me fangirling, which is per usual,” Ballerini said during a Thursday, October 24, appearance on Taste of Country Nights. “It’s really beautiful to have artists that you can have those touch points with and just check in with and make sure that everything’s good. They’re good, you’re good.”
Ballerini went on to say that she’s looked to Swift’s career for inspiration when figuring out how to make her own songwriting evolve as she ages.
“While [my early singles] ‘Love Me Like You Mean It’ and ‘Dibs’ were played on country radio, they were also on Radio Disney, so I was really — not calculated in that — but protective of that,” she explained. “I’m 31, you know, and so I think especially with [Rolling Up the Welcome Mat], I was just like, ‘I just want to write like I talk.’ And talking about Taylor … I think when she started cursing on her records, I think she kind of gave everyone permission to just write like they talk and write the full truth.”
