Backstage at the 2025 ACM Awards, Katie Neal caught up with 'Entertainer of the Year' nominee, Kelsea Ballerini, who shared how proud she is of her nomination and also detailed her day out with Noah Kahan at Dollywood.
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00:00You look so good. Thank you so much. This outfit's so good. Thank you so much. Your carpet outfit is so good. Everyone. Tell me about your carpet outfit. Um, razzle dazzle them. Ooh, okay. No, it's, it's, it's honestly, it's pretty simple with just like a little pop of edge, but I wanted something that felt kind of timeless and classy just because this is, as an artist, this is my biggest ACM. So I wanted to do something that I could always look back on and be proud of.
00:27And when you say your biggest ACMs, it's because you're nominated for entertainer of the year. I could not have been more excited to see your name on that list. Talk about like what was going through your head, what this means to you.
00:38It's just, I mean, we've talked about this, but I feel like everyone has their own version of what it means to have their 10 year town story. And this is mine. Like it just in every way this year, like doing the arena tour and I don't know, like doing the voice,
00:56I just do like, I just feel like it's been a full circle moment and, um, yeah. And, and to have an entertainer nomination, it's, I think like, I'm not going to win. And I don't even think that's the point. I think it's just the fact that, and I'm going to say this and I hope it doesn't come across ungrateful, but like, I feel like finally the town that I've loved so hard is like loving me back.
01:21Hmm. You know, I totally, I see what you're saying with that. And I don't think that sounds ungrateful at all. You were going to be performing on the show. I am. I had my rehearsal this morning. You did. How'd it go? It was really fun. There's a lot of stairs and I did wear these shoes to rehearsal. So I ended up having to do it barefoot. Um, but we're doing baggage. Then the next single, the new single, and, um, it's just, that's the, that's a perk about getting an entertainer nomination is you get to have like a full performance.
01:48Big old production. So your tour manager was just showing me the set and I was like, Oh, it's large. It's large. It also, I was like, I'm a little worried about our girl making it down all those stairs and not. I am too, but I have to make it down the stairs because there's so much pyro and certain hits happen after I get off the platform. So logistically, I have to make it down the stairs. You're going to, it's going to be amazing.
02:09This girl is on fire. Wait, I want to talk about, so one of your three nominations is with Noah. Yes. And I saw that you and Chase took him to Dollywood. We did. We did. I wish, oh my God, please. There was a documentary about this. It was, it was maybe the greatest day of my life. Um, we have become really good friends with Brenna and Noah and, um, like we live right down the street from each other and it's just been such a beautiful friendship that started from Cowboys Cry 2. Um, and I think one thing that we,
02:39kind of mutually all care about is having a work-life balance and doing things that like remind us that we can be human and like have fun and connect with that inner child and all that stuff. So anyway, I haven't been to Dollywood since I was 13. I've wanted to go for so long. Chase had never been. We had planned to go and we just texted them. We're like, are you free Monday? And they're like, we're down. And so we drove in, um, and we just, we just did it. And it was, it was, I've never belly laughed that hard in my life. It was so much fun. And then we went to Guy Theory, split
03:09Flavortown, which was like an arcade version. This is like the Kelsey Ballerini day of all days. It was the most me day of all days. Oh my God. My dreams are made of. So much. Exactly. It's so good to see you. I cannot wait to see this outfit on the carpet. I love you too. You're going to have a great night. Thank you. Kelsey Ballerini backstage at the 60th annual ACM Awards. You can tune in 8, 7 central on May 8th on Amazon Prime Video.