Kelsea Ballerini finds songwriting to be "therapeutic"

Speaking to ELLE, Kelsea shared: "I've always gravitated toward writing about the unsteadiness in life, whether that's a version of heartbreak or just growing pains.

"I love writing about growing up and the uncomfortable nature of that. The hardest part for me is to write when I'm happy."

Kelsea believes it's actually easier to find musical inspiration amid tough times.

The 'Love Me Like You Mean It' hitmaker - who was married to Morgan Evans between 2017 and 2022 - explained: "It's so much easier, because songwriting is so therapeutic for me, to sit down when I'm down in the dumps about something rather than when I'm happy. Because when you're happy, you want to go exist in your happiness, not sit down with your guitar."

Kelsea believes her latest album, 'Patterns', is a fair reflection of where she's currently at in her life.

The award-winning star - who has been dating actor Chase Stokes since 2023 - said: "I will say, making 'Patterns' was truly reflective of the year and a half that I wrote it. So there is turmoil and growing pains in that, and there is happiness, but it's not sugarcoated."

Kelsea previously admitted that she feared passing out before her first face-to-face meeting with Chase.

The singer and Chase spent weeks "texting and Facetiming" each other before they met for the first time, and Kelsea recalled feeling anxious ahead of their encounter.

During an appearance on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast, Kelsea shared: "He came to this party that I was playing, and I had just gotten done playing. And I was ... 'Guys - I'm sweating just thinking about this. I thought I was gonna pass out'.

"You can have chemistry over the phone but when you see each other you're like, what's the height difference, are we ... are you ... I didn't know what to do. And so I walked out to his car, and he got out of his Bronco - hot."