I definitely did move around so much as a kid, growing up.
And you grew up-- you were talking this morning
about driving past your childhood
home, which is so funny because I
don't have one childhood home.
Interesting.
I can't think of one place I would drive by and be like,
that's it.
My childhood home.
Yeah, all the memories.
Yeah, we moved, like, every year.
I think it's cool because it's like you
have such a beautiful, classic story.
And it's so cool to me, watching you
go tell your story, like you're married, you're in love.
It's amazing.
I've met your husband.
I've met your dog.
I've seen your house.
It's incredible.
I guess in a way, I kind of do romanticize a little bit,
where I'm like, wow. I don't know.
I'm just happy for you.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
Aw, thanks.
It's funny, though.
As far as people thinking your music's darker or whatever,
I think we write about the same perspective of young girl going
through breakup.
HALSEY: Totally.
Young girl getting cheated on.
Young girl falling in love carelessly.
And I think that your production, in your artistry,
brings out this fire in the stories.
And mine brings out the, but it's going to be fine, right?
I love that optimism, though.
Because what's funny is I feel like--
But that's what makes it so cool
because it's really not that different,
except you kind of have the perspective of, like, unh.
And I have the perspective of, like, ding!
But you also know me in real life, which is crazy, because I
feel like sometimes people hear my music
and think I'm a really dark person.
Yeah, you're not.
And you know that I'm not at all.
I'm super goofy.
And I don't know.
Yeah, definitely, we've had our fair share, though,
of long, serious talks, where I am the dark one
and you are the optimistic light who's telling me everything
going to be OK, for sure.
It's my role. Yeah.
HALSEY: I remember you were so surprised at how
much country music I knew.
KELSEA BALLERINI: I was!
HALSEY: Yeah, everyone knows it now because I talk of how much
I love country all the time.
But I think maybe early on, when I first
started it out in my career, people didn't
know that I loved country--
love country.
Well, we were talking today, even "Graveyard,"
it has a bit of a country flair to it.
Oh, yeah, totally.
And like, come on over.
I know.
I was born in the wrong part of the country.
But also you--
You're always welcome.
I'm here.
I'm here to have my moment.
So I grew up on everything, but I didn't really
listen to a ton of country, even though I lived on a farm next
to my cousins.
We grew up going to church every Sunday and frying afterwards.
It was the super cliche of country music,
but I didn't listen to a ton of it growing up,
other than the Shanias and the Garths that just trans--
Totally, you can't escape.
KELSEA BALLERINI: Yeah, transcended country.
But I grew up on Top 40, like what
we've listened to together, like the Britneys and all of that.
I also fell in love with the Stevie Wonders,
and the Frank Sinatras, and Tony Bennetts,
and all that kind of stuff.
So when I discovered country, I was
already writing songs with all those other influences.
I found country later, as well.
It wasn't ever on my radar growing up because my dad
listened to a lot of hip hop, and my mom
listened to '90s grunge.
But I think it was for me, once I started writing,
once I started playing guitar.
Because I think I just found myself relating to the style
so much.
And because I try to write really poignant, straight cut
through to the bone, kind of like,
I'm going to make you feel right now.
Yeah.
And no one does that better than country music.
Yeah.
So it was only a matter of time
before I went in, and went back, and realized how much I
knew, and rediscovered things.
And I know every word to every Dixie Chicks song
ever, of all time.
And like, Keith Urban, like you said, transcends.
Yeah.
HALSEY: That's what's really cool about you too, though, is
that you have transcended, but still
managed to stay so true to the genre that birthed you.
KELSEA BALLERINI: Yeah.
HALSEY: Which is really, really cool.
It's the whole music is music thing.
I think rooting yourself somewhere where you feel
supported and watered, but then letting yourself
grow where you want to grow.
And I think it's a really cool time
in a country, where there's all these collaborations happening.
Totally.
Where people that had the stigma of, oh, it's
all about the husband cheated on the wife,
and he's taking the truck, and the dog, and all that.
And it's not that, you know?
It's so much deeper and so much more.
And I think that people that have that stigma, with all
these crossovers, and you doing this,
and all that kind of stuff, it helps just bring new ears in.
And it's exciting.
I love it.
I have friends at home that are going to country music concerts
and country music festivals, people
that otherwise never would have been exposed to the genre.
And it's really cool watching them fall in love with it
because a country music crowd is really one of a kind.
The amount of love, and optimism, and pain,
and feeling, and community, and family in that audience,
it's a different kind of thing.
It really is. - Yeah, it's warm.
And yeah, I'm jealous because you get
to perform to that every night.
And that must be unbelievable.
My first show here, I remember, sold out.
KELSEA BALLERINI: Where'd you play?
HALSEY: Cannery Ballroom.
KELSEA BALLERINI: Yeah, Cannery's so good.
HALSEY: And I remember being like, I
can't believe people there even know who I am or care at all.
And so I don't know, it just feels very special.
What was your first show here?
Where was it?
I used to do Bluebird, and Listening Room, and all that.
So cool.
So I did the songwriter circuit before I
got to do the artist thing.
But I remember when I did--
I guess it was second headlining tour, it was theaters.
And with Nashville, I was like, I
really don't want to do a show here
until I can sell out the Ryman.
That's really important to me.
And so I remember when I got to do that,
it was a big check off the bucket list.
Yeah, 100%.
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