Kelsea Ballerini: ‘So Grateful’ To Have Noah Kahan On ‘Cowboys Cry Too’

When it came time for Kelsea Ballerini to start working on new music, she didn't know where to start. The country star admitted that she "panicked" just a bit because she wanted to keep that same "level of vulnerability and intention," as she did for the release of her 2023 EP, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, which changed her life, and her career, in many ways.

It all worked out in the end because Ballerini found an artist with whom she immediately had "songwriting synergy" and who has been added to just about everyone's playlist this year: Noah Kahan. Together, they have introduced the next chapter of not only Ballerini's life but also her new music to her fans.

Ballerini officially released a new song with Kahan today (6/28) titled "Cowboys Cry Too." The 30-year-old posted a series of photos on Instagram alongside her new duet partner with the caption, "In a world that says ‘saddle up and be a man’, i hope this song finds you in your humanness. to the cowboys, cowgirls, and anyone who listens…let ‘em out. cowboys cry too is available now."

"I remember I was sitting on my back porch one morning in November, and I just had my guitar with me, and I wrote the verse and chorus of cowboys and immediately went to the studio and finished it that day. I loved the idea of of writing a song from a woman's perspective, kind of taking on the idea of like, toxic masculinity and like really being so appreciative of the men in my life that, exercise vulnerability and, and have like, you know, emotional awareness," Ballerini told Backstage Country.

She continued, "I just thought it was a message that was really interesting to hear from a girl's perspective. As the record started kind of forming, I realized that that song could even maybe be more special if we had a male counterpart telling the same story. But I knew that that would take an artist that was willing to kind of go there. And I'm such a fan of Noah, like 'Stick Season,' come on, are you joking?"

Ballerini knew right away that Kahan was not scared to go deep after listening to his very own storytelling showcased on his 2022 album, Stick Season. After writing "Cowboys Cry Too," she sent Kahan a text asking him if he'd put his story in the song, only if he felt "tied" to it and could "relate" to what she was presenting him at the time.

"So the week before we did our collab on that show (2024 ACM Awards), we were working on 'Cowboys,' and I hadn't heard what he had written because he wanted to play it in person and he just word for word sang the verse that he had written. And I was just floored and so grateful for just the way that he cared, about that song. And it just made it so much better," Ballerini exclaimed.

Ballerini's "Cowboys Cry Too" is the first to come from her highly-anticipated new album, yet to be announced.

As Kelsea Ballerini celebrates her 30th birthday today (9/12), she is in New York City getting ready to make her MTV VMA debut performance. She is expected to treat fans to a world premiere performance from the expanded version of her EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good).

Ballerini posted the news to Instagram. The announcement was captioned, "Boots: On Welcome Mats: Rolled OUT @kelseaballerini is making her #VMA DEBUT!! Watch her perform LIVE on Tuesday, September 12 on @mtv!"

The 2023 VMAs will air live from New Jersey's Prudential Center tonight (9/12) at 8 PM ET/PT.

Kelsea's career has really exploded in the last couple of years as she was recently nominated for the CMA's 2023 Female Vocalist of the Year among country mainstays like Miranda Lambert, Carly Pearce, Ashley McBryde, and Lainey Wilson. She is also nominated for a CMA this year for the coveted Album of the Year honor for her EP Rolling Up The Welcome Mat.

This year (2023), she enjoyed three sold-out legs of her "Heartfirst Tour," and a Grammy nomination in February for Best Country Solo Performance for "Heartfirst."

In 2021, Ballerini won two CMA Awards for her duet with Kenny Chesney, "Half My Hometown" for Musical Event and Video of the Year. Also, in 2021, She won a CMT Music Award for Performance of the Year for "The Other Girl" with Halsey.

In August, she gathered with fans and the music industry in Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame to celebrate the release of her extended Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP.

Kelsea said, "Even when we were recording Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, I knew it wasn't the end of the story. We couldn't know what was to come, so [collaborator] Alysa [Vanderheym] and I left the project exactly as it was when it was written and recorded... and because of the open dialogue I have with my fans, it only felt right to finish this story before starting on the next chapter of my life."

She also directed a short film that accompanied the project.

As we join Kelsea in celebration of her birthday today, we thought we would revisit what we believe are her five funniest songs to date.

A fun song found on her debut album, "The First Time." The music video for the song is an ode to the 1990s. Ballerini is shown performing the song in a colorful bodysuit in front of a neon backdrop and a brick wall spray-painted with graffiti, with female backup dancers. When the song came out, Kelsea was touring with Rascal Flatts and headlining her own "The FirstTime Tour."

This is a song on Ballerini's "Subject To Change" album, which seemed to catapult her to a new level of fame. Kelsea wrote the song with Alysa Vanderheym and Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild in July 2021. According to Ballerini, it was the first song that she ever wrote where she did not come up with the title first; instead, the opening line, "Met him at a party / Accidentally brushed his body / On the way to get a drink at the bar" was the first lyric she wrote for the song.

The fun song she named her dog after. The official music video for "Dibs" premiered on October 22, 2015. The video consists of footage Ballerini took while on tour in York, Pennsylvania, Greenville, South Carolina, and St. Leonard, Maryland, performing in front of live crowds, celebrating her 22nd birthday, and spending time with her dog. The chorus sings, Yeah, I'm callin' dibs / On your lips / On your kiss / On your time / Boy, I'm callin' dibs / On your hand / On your heart / All mine."

Kelsea happily joins the country music ranks with a drinking song; a remix of the song featuring Shania Twain was released five months after the original single came out. The music video begins with a vintage black-and-white style with Ballerini dressed in flapper wardrobe reminiscent of the 1920s. Once the first chorus hits, colored scenes are introduced, and she is shown in a house painting a portrait of her dog Dibs in a field with a couple of friends who join her in lounging on a bed and performing a dance routine with the singer and playing chess with herself.

This song is a gem and puts Kelsea in the same company of "fun" murder songs like the Chicks' "Goodbye Earl." Ballerini said when the song came out, it was actually to evoke thoughts of the 1991 film "Thelma & Louise" and The Chicks' "Goodbye Earl." She told us then, "We really wanted to lean into a very '90s country feel, and so we brought in fiddle for the song, which I think to me makes it. That's also why there's a Chicks reference to it, which everyone picks up on, which was absolutely intentional. I didn't want to make it sound like anything else on the record. I wanted it to be its own moment."