Kelsea Ballerini isn’t ready to roll up the Welcome Mat just yet. During an intimate fan Q&A at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Ballerini announced the release of Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good) on August 11.
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The seven-song project features titles such as “Just Married,” “Penthouse (Healed Version)” and “Blindsided (Yeah, Sure, Okay).” This serves as the follow up to her EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, which she released as a surprise in February 2023. Many of the songs on For Good are adaptations of ones on the original Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
The EP was largely inspired by her divorce from ex-husband Morgan Evans, who released a song in the wake of their divorce announcement called “Over For You.” In announcing For Good, Ballerini urged fans to focus on the music and not who it’s about.
[RELATED: Kelsea Ballerini Performs “Penthouse” at the Grand Ole Opry]
“From the deepest and purest part of my heart, i ask that you help this be ours and let the music simply be the music, not dig back into the experience that it was written about nearly a year ago,” she professed on Twitter. “As a songwriter, producer, artist i’m proud and protective of this EP, and as a woman and human also proud and protective of the new, happy season of life i’m in.
“My real hope is for us to continue growing, healing, and evolving together with acceptance and kindness (even when we unleash our inner fire breathing dragon singing the new versions of these songs). am i right?” she added with a winking face.
Ballerini released the six-track Rolling Up the Welcome Mat and the corresponding 20-minute short film, Under the Welcome Mat, on Valentine’s Day. The EP reached No. 11 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and No. 5 on the Independent Albums chart. She’s currently on a three-city tour wherein she hosts screenings of the film and conversations with fans.
Photo: NBC Media Village
