Always wash your face before you go to bed - skin care is key.
Kelsea Ballerini
Music videos, to me, are like an extension of a song.
I was living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I didn't really know how you would become a singer. I didn't even think that I could do it. I didn't even dream about it. But when I was 12, it was that year where I got tall, boys got cute, everything was weird. Then my parents split up on top of that, so it was a big year of change for me.
I wouldn't be an artist if I didn't have Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift to look up to.
I also grew up on a farm in east Tennessee, so my roots are just naturally super southern, so I've always had that southern country lifestyle.
We had three cows and a goat. People from New York and L.A. are like, 'Oh my gosh, that's a farm!' But people in Tennessee are like, 'That's not a farm.' I've never milked a cow or anything like that.
When I was 15, my mom and I packed everything up and moved to Nashville so I could pursue my dream in music.
I did ballet, jazz, and all that, but I think hip-hop is really where I learned rhythm and groove, which has helped me in music.
I've always been drawn to strong women in every genre, people who push the boundaries because they're just epic.
When Florida Georgia Line and Nelly put out the 'Cruise' remix, it brought so many more people to country music.
I've never been scared, but I'm very naive.
As a young girl, there are pressures that come with any career, but I decided when I got into this I didn't want to be perfect.
People send me songs all the time that are literally no-brainer hits... but for me, I'm an artist because I'm a writer.
I was writing country songs, but I wasn't listening to country yet. I grew up on a farm in East Tennessee, so my roots are country, you know? But I didn't know where those songs came from or where they fit.
I really like food. Honestly, anytime I have time off, I binge-watch Netflix and eat chicken tenders. That's my guilty pleasure. Separate or together!
Even though there are incredible songs floating around Nashville, it's important for me to have my voice heard.
I grew up loving music, like, loving it. I was involved in church choir, leading worship and all the choirs in my school - even glee club.
I try to exercise when I'm on road - I really do try - but I also try not to push myself too hard. I just try to move.
I get to remind myself and other people to be yourself, to rock you who you are, and don't worry about if it fits.
I feel like it's been so crazy to get to open for people like Rascal Flatts, Lady A, Billy Currington.
There's value in being a normal person.
I was this little blond girl with a guitar case bigger than me - it was pink and sparkly at the time. But I always took myself seriously, and I think that people took that seriously. I would tell them about my goal list, and they listened. I was like, 'I want to be the one that swings the pendulum.'
As a fan, I connect with realness. Whether it's strong or vulnerable, if it's real, I can connect with it.
When I was 13, I started writing songs, and it fell into my lap all of a sudden. I wrote poems and journals, but that's when it switched for me to songwriting. That's when I wanted to do everything. It was like a fire all of a sudden. I started coming to Nashville and moved here when I was 15.
I have a huge appreciation for music in general, but my roots are country.
In my opinion, it's all about the song and the performance, not the gender.
Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum is like my big sister.
The fun thing about song writing is that it's just creative. It can be whatever you want it to be. For me, I'm really protective of that. I'm not going to write something because I feel like it fits here or it fits there - I just want to write music that feels good to me, you know?
The first album is an introduction, and when people listen to it top to bottom, I want them to know me.
I think that, as artists, all we can do is be who we are. I think that if we do that, then we're automatically not anyone else.
I've always wanted to dye my hair a bright color.
You really do have to be different. You really do have to set yourself apart.
I am a fan before I am an artist. I was that twelve year old girl that looked up to Taylor Swift. I get what that role is as a fan. I think that because I know that, I'm really careful and intentional about what I say and what I put out. I want to be that role for anyone who wants me to be that.
With Rascal Flatts, I'm such a fan of them, and I feel like they've been so gracefully relevant through decades of country music.
I think that every time a country artist steps outside of the country boundary, it just brings more ears to us.
There's a YouTube video of these two kittens that just fall over and pass out. My blood sugar's crazy, so I would pass out sometimes, like the fainting kittens.
I've gotten to be part of a lot of incredible tours and have learned so much from the people I've had the opportunity to open for.
I try to be a good person. I love Jesus.
I remember telling myself when I got to start having artist opportunities, 'Let yourself be a fan, because you are. The minute that you walk in a room with Carrie Underwood, and you're too cool to freak out, you need to check yourself.' I just let myself be a fan.
My theory is the root of a country artist is truth and honesty. For me, I look at Sam Hunt. The truth and the honest thing is we have southern roots, we were raised in a southern way, but we listen to Drake and other stuff, too.
I was raised on a farm in East Tennessee, and my first concert was Britney Spears. It's my job as a country music artist to be honest about that.
I share so much of my life on social media, and I love the honest connection with the people that follow me.
I try to be as honest as I can in writing. That's what ends up translating and relating to people.
I love when an artist can stand by themselves and play their guitar and hold a crowd, but I also love bells and whistles.
'The First Time' is a song that I wrote by myself on my front porch, in real-time, as that situation was happening to me.
I started writing songs by myself. That always came from whatever I was feeling and being honest about that because I never had any intention of anyone ever hearing them.
Being a songwriter is really the base of being an artist, for me.
My favorite songwriting trick is writing something like 'XO.' In my brain, I thought, 'This is probably going to be a love song. How can I change that and find ways to twist that.' As a songwriter, it's your job for the song to take twists and turns that people don't expect.
Before I really knew country music, I listened to pop, and I still do.
I am such a girly girl, and I love not playing it safe. I'm so new to this world, so it's fun to establish myself as a fashionista.
