Kelsea Nicole Ballerini is an American country pop singer and songwriter. A four-time Grammy Award nominee, she has gained success since the 2010s, being honored with the Gene Weed Milestone Award at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Rising Star Award at the Billboard Women in Music.
She began songwriting as a child and signed a contract with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album, The First Time, and her second one Unapologetically, followed in 2017. The two albums account for seven songs on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. She has five No. 1 singles on the latter, starting with her debut single "Love Me Like You Mean It", which made her the first female artist to send a debut single to the top of that chart since Carrie Underwood in 2006. It was followed by "Dibs" and "Peter Pan", whose peaks also made her the first female country artist to send her first three singles to the top of that chart since Wynonna Judd.
Her third studio album, Kelsea, and a counterpart acoustic album, Ballerini, were both released in 2020. The collaboration "Half of My Hometown" with Kenny Chesney garnered two Country Music Association Awards. Her fourth studio album, Subject to Change was released in 2022.
