Kelsea Ballerini caught up with Billboard's Lyndsey Havens at Country Power Players 2024.
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00:00 We are here with Kelsey Ballerini who is presenting to Lainey Wilson tonight, our record breaker.
00:05 Tell me a little bit about your relationship with Lainey.
00:07 Ah, well, I just, we were stuck in traffic for an hour on the way over here and I like edited my speech four or five times
00:13 because I really wanted to do a proper good job honoring her.
00:18 So I feel like I have my full story about my love for her in my speech.
00:22 But she's just, I've always said, like I feel like being a good person first and a good artist second
00:29 is really kind of the right recipe to do it right and have like a really long lasting career
00:34 and feel good about it and yourself and she's the epitome of that and I feel really honored to be here to show up for her.
00:42 She's just, she's a good person and a great artist. A great person and a great artist.
00:47 We say the same about you.
00:48 Thank you.
00:49 So obviously our cover line, we took it from her single "Country's Cool Again".
00:53 Do you feel like "Country's" having more of a moment than ever before right now?
00:57 Well I mean obviously I think "Country's" always cool. I've always thought "Country's" cool.
01:03 I love that we're having so many people from other genres come in and explore.
01:09 Just like I love when people from our genre explore.
01:13 I love being able to cross boundaries and genre lines and really just be creative.
01:18 That's what music's about. It's about wherever your roots are,
01:22 it's about being able to just express yourself and tell your story and I don't think it should matter too much
01:28 on whether there's a banjo or a beat drop as long as it's the truth.
01:32 I love that people are coming here and telling their truth.
01:35 I think it's just the merrier always, everywhere.
01:39 Yes.
01:40 Perfect transition. You are performing with one of my all-time favorites at the ACM.
01:44 Yes.
01:45 We love Noah Kahn.
01:46 We love Noah Kahn. I'm such a fan.
01:48 I mean that record "Top to Bottom" is just I think one of the stand-alone most just brilliant songwriting
01:56 that we've heard in a long time and I got to meet him at the Billboard event around Grammys.
02:03 Amazing.
02:04 And became buddies and this performance came about and it's just been really wonderful to get to know him
02:11 and he's just a wonderful person and such a wonderful, wonderful songwriter
02:17 and it's going to be a really a cool moment.
02:20 Again, like what I was just talking about like a cool collaboration crossing of genres
02:23 but it's all about the songs. It's all about the storytelling.
02:26 Okay, well I can't wait. I know everyone has been asking you so I'm going to ask you here on camera.
02:30 What is the craziest thing that happened at the Met?
02:32 It was your first time going. You looked gorgeous.
02:35 Have you really like taken that in yet that it's happened?
02:38 It was definitely a bucket list for me because I love, I'm a girly girl.
02:43 I love that part of what I get to do for my job is play dress-up too and express myself
02:50 and that's just like the pinnacle of that.
02:53 The craziest thing that happened, I went with Michael Kors and we had our final thing the day before
02:58 and I usually have a ton of rings on, my personal rings, like the stories that were given to me, whatever.
03:03 And so I had all my rings on but my dress was mesh and really delicate and all these handmade flowers
03:10 and I was like, he was like, "Take your rings off to try the dress on."
03:13 And he put his hands out to hold my rings and I'm like, "You're Michael Kors, I can put them on the counter."
03:17 He was like, "I insist. Give me your rings." I was like, "Okay."
03:20 Turns out he accidentally put them in his pocket and left with all of my personal rings.
03:28 I did get them back and now I was like, we have collateral on each other now.
03:32 Now we have to be lifelong friends, Michael Kors.
03:34 It was amazing. It was an amazing experience and I mean, yeah, like very out of this world
03:41 to just be on a carpet with people like that and try not to pass out.
03:46 Yeah.
03:48 And did you stay for the performances inside?
03:50 I feel like no one can actually talk about what happens inside but did you get to enjoy yourself?
03:53 Yeah, of course. Me? Enjoy myself?
03:58 No one tells you who's performing so we didn't know but it was Ariana and she was just god tier.
04:04 It was, I mean, her voice is incredible and it was like what, like 500 people in the room?
04:10 And she performed like it was a stadium and it was beautiful to see.
04:13 It's kind of the moment where everyone like unbuttons the first snap of the corset
04:19 and you're like, "Okay, okay, we're safe now."
04:21 And it was really fun to see people kind of loosen up and stand up and jam out and sing,
04:25 "I'm so into you." It was so good.
04:28 Yes, we love Ari.
04:29 Yes, we do.
04:30 Alright, well thank you so much. Have so much fun tonight and we love you.
04:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]