When Kelsea Ballerini’s debut single, “Love Me Like You Mean It,” also became her first No. 1 hit, country music listeners knew they had something special. Over a decade later, she is selling out arenas and sharing her expertise with aspiring singers as a coach on The Voice. Thursday’s (May 8) 60th ACM Awards marked a special night for Kelsea Ballerini, and not just because she scored her first nomination in the highly coveted Entertainer of the Year category. Tonight, she took the stage to perform a longtime fan favorite live for the first time.
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Watch Kelsea Ballerini Sing “Baggage” At ACM Awards
When Kelsea Ballerini released her fifth studio album, Patterns, last October, the track “Baggage” quickly became a fan favorite. Invoking Dolly Parton with cascading blonde locks and a sparkling silver jumpsuit, Ballerini delivered it live for the first time onstage at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
Yesss queen @KelseaBallerini #ACMawards pic.twitter.com/3iPeJ5g3Sl
— Bree 𐙚 (@Britt_Leann29) May 9, 2025
“I’m excited. I mean, this is our first big performance [of “Baggage”] other than being on tour and it feels like a performance that I can show up…being nominated for Entertainer of the Year, I feel like I’m delivering something that is maybe worthy of that nomination,” Ballerini told Country Now ahead of Thursday’s ceremony.
KELSEA!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSS! SOUND AT 100000 #ACMawards
— Katelyn Reese (@katkatmarie14) May 9, 2025
The incredibly catchy track’s title serves as a double entendre for both the country-pop star’s nomadic lifestyle and her romantic past. I got baggage, but I’m movin’ in, she sings to a new love interest.
KELSEA!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSS! SOUND AT 100000 #ACMawards
— Katelyn Reese (@katkatmarie14) May 9, 2025
A Full-Circle Moment
At this year’s ACM Awards, Kelsea Ballerini scored her eighth Female Artist of the Year nomination, along with Music Event of the Year for her Noah Kahan duet “Cowboys Cry Too,” and the highly-coveted Entertainer of the Year.
If Ballerini were to claim that particular trophy, she would join an elite list of women who have previously won the title, including Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, The Chicks, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and last year’s winner, Lainey Wilson.
“I’m happy to just be in the same conversation,” the “Dibs” songstress told Country Now.
Reflecting on her headlining arena tour, which wrapped last month, Ballerini said, “It’s been a very busy last couple of years and I’ve always really tried to be kind of a go-getter and do it for country. And it feels really beautiful to know that my peers and the town and the genre I love so much, it feels like are seeing that. And I am so proud of the tour that we did and it’s bittersweet that it’s done. But yeah, it feels like a full circle.”
Featured image by Rich Polk/Penske Media via Getty Images
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