Kelsea Ballerini: ‘Rolling Up The Welcome Mat’ – EP Review

Kelsea Ballerini releases surprise EP and short film, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, out now on all streaming platforms. Listen to the brand-new project here.

Country music is all about speaking the truth no matter what. In her surprise EP and short film called Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, Kelsea Ballerini is unapologetically speaking her truth. She gets candid about what led to her divorce, her actual marriage, and everything in between. While Ballerini always creates music that is relatable and personal, this new project is one of her best yet.

The six-track project features well-crafted songs. Three of the six songs were exclusively written by Ballerini, while the songstress enlists the help of her producer and fellow songwriter, Alysa Vanderheym on the other three. Each song unfolds into the next in a way that feels cohesive, perfect for the short film that accompanies the EP.

“The only way I’ve been able to handle my life since I was 12 was to write about it. Ironically, I started writing music because my parents got divorced; that was my therapy,” shared Ballerini. “These are six songs I wish I had last year. It’s about the complexities of the feelings you go through during a massive shift at a young age. Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was how I processed everything. It’s the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music — which is the purest way I could’ve handled it.”

“Mountain With A View,” the first song on the project candidly shares Ballerini’s breaking point, while “Just Married” is a heartbreakingly beautiful song that depicts how it feels to go from the excitement of marriage to just going through the motions.

Similarly on “Penthouse,” Ballerini shares what it is like to have everything, but how nothing feels as it should. Lyrics like “We played the part five nights, but we were never there on the weekends, baby // We got along real nice, but when I left town, did you hate me?” Hinting at the truth of what was going on behind closed doors in Ballerini’s former marriage to fellow country music singer-songwriter, Morgan Evans.

The last two tracks, “Blindsided” and “Leave Me Again” are separated by an “Interlude,” which seems to define the moments between the privacy of the relationship to when the public found out. On “Blindsided,” Ballerini unblushingly shares her truth, responding almost directly to Evans’ song, “Over For You.”

Finally on “Leave Me Again,” Ballerini vows to never lose herself again in a relationship. While heartache is painful, she wants her fans to know that healing is possible. Rolling Up The Welcome Mat is a true masterpiece.

Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP Tracklist:

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Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.