ballerini

A common way to maximize the reach of a pop song, including one of a country-pop variety, is to release a big remix on the heels of the original. Half a dozen years into her Nashville hitmaking career, Kelsea Ballerini is no doubt familiar with this practice, but she chose an entirely different approach. On her March 2020 album, simply titled kelsea, she applied sheer, sprightly rhythmic production to acutely confessional material, but this companion piece, dubbed ballerini and recorded during quarantine, presents those same tunes with subdued, largely acoustic arrangements. In the new version of “overshare,” the singer-songwriter dials back her wryness to bring insecurity into focus. With its beat-driven energy stripped away, “needy” no longer sounds blissful, but a little uneasy at being in the grip of such emotion. Backed by string band accompaniment, Ballerini’s disgust for an untrue lover takes on a more plaintive quality in "love and hate." Together, the two sets, both of which she co-produced, are her artful way of laying her effervescent persona and embrace of vulnerability side by side.