Kelsea Ballerini Talks Inspiration for "Peter Pan"

This is my favorite interview I've ever been a part of. Oh my gosh. It's funny. It's casual. It's easy. What are you doing?

I was doing what you were doing.

What?

I was doing what you were doing.

No. We need to make this a dance move. This is going to be called, no. I was excited. The bird that was just shot and is falling out of the sky. How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

I'm peachy.

What?

What? That's my word.

It's my word now.

It is your word now. I told you to start using it because you said good and then you said that it was boring.

Yes, yes. And you and you had a peachy day. A peachy day. I'm having a peachy day. Can I say it from your neck of the woods? From like Nashville. Yeah. Peachy.

Maybe. That's, I mean. Really? I guess so. That's where I'm from and that's why I say it, I guess.

Okay. I've never heard anyone say that.

Well, today. Okay. Is that a new word? Nashville. It's a new word. Today is peachy day. Nashville, today's peachy. You said I was your only. Never thought you'd leave me lonely. You're just a lost boy with your head up in the clouds. I start getting self-conscious because the lyrics and stuff like Peter Pan. I was like, oh. Do you feel like a Peter Pan?

I don't. But maybe at some times I have.

I feel like a Peter Pan sometimes. Like we have to grow up. Lost boy, I feel like a lost boy. Yeah, they're like sometimes. That's okay. Okay. As long as it's not like you're like bad at relationships.

I'm great at relationships. That's why I'm single.

You're just a lost boy. You never keep your feet on the ground. Where do you get your inspirations for your for your lyrics?

Um, life relationships. It's all just your real stuff. It's all real stuff. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I started as a songwriter. So it's kind of the reason that I wanted to do the artist thing. Um, and so yeah, when I made my record, uh, I I really wanted it to be something where people could listen to it and at the end of it be like, man, I feel like we're friends. I feel like I really know her. You're always going to fly away. And just because you know you can.

You said you started a songwriter 12 years old, right? Yeah. 12 years old. You wrote a song for your mom.

I did. Yeah. Oh mama. I forgot it was Mother's Day because I'm a terrible kid. Okay. And um, yeah, I wrote her a song called Oh mama. Last year, I flew out to the show, um, that I was playing in St. Louis and brought her on stage and sang it to her in front of everyone and embarrassed her so bad.

I love that.

It was awesome.

What have you done since for Mother's Day then? Cuz you've you set the bar pretty high.

I just like to spend time with my mom. So. She's like not a gift person. She's a quality time person. So, just hanging out with her makes her happy.

I feel like my mom says that but she loves the gifts too. Yeah, it's a girl thing. Girls always like. Girls love gifts. I didn't bring you anything if that's what you're fishing for. I got nothing. I got nothing. Such a Peter Pan. Such a lost. Such a Peter Pan. Such a lost boy. You're never going to learn there's no such place as Neverland. You don't understand you'll never grow up. Who are your inspirations musically growing up?

I listened to everything. I still do. Um, like my first concert was Britney Spears. Love Britney. Right. But like Shania, Faith Hill, Martina, Taylor. I've always just been super drawn to like really cool empowering females in every genre.

You're never going to be a man, Peter Pan. Where were you when you first found out you had a number one? Can you remember?

I was on my bus and I knew that it was number two and it was either going to happen or it wasn't and it was close and So I was trying to like kind of mentally prepare for both, you know. And I got the call from my label and there's this video of me just ugly crying because

That's what you did, you cried.

Yeah, because it's just like a big victory, you know, and it's not just me it's like my whole team and the writers that wrote it. It's just a big deal.

Right, right. It's still a celebration. Are you a crier? Do you cry like a moment of?

I never used to be, but I am now. Like got my ACM cried. Got my second number one cried. There's videos everywhere. It's just ridiculous.

Finish this interview. Cried. Well and deep down I knew that you were too good to be true. You're a big fan of the uh, emoji, the salsa dancer. The dancer. So maybe maybe you could celebrate that way instead of crying.

Yeah. You can do that. I can get a red dress. Do the salsa move.

How is the salsa move? Cuz you're good at it, aren't you?

I don't know if I'm good at it. It's just like

See, if we were playing charades, I wouldn't guess salsa dancer right now. What would you guess? I'd be like Olympic runner. Or something like that. Something like that.

I'll take it. I'll take it. Okay. Okay.

Every piece and part of me just wanted to believe in you. When you're on your road, on the road, you mentioned you know, you're on your bus a lot. So you're away from home a lot. What three things can't you be without?

My best friend. My college roommate comes out with me.

Really? That's great. That's amazing.

It's really good. And she's always super unimpressed with me. So it's really fun. My dog comes out with me a lot, which is Sometimes. Sometimes. Yeah, he's really big right now and he's a puppy still. So he's crazy, but um, and then a fan got me, I'd never heard of this, a pillow pet. Have you heard of this?

No.

It's like, you know what I'm talking about. It's like a it's like a pillow but it's like an animal, like a little stuffed animal, but it's a pillow. And it's my new favorite thing. So I have that in my bunk. So now it's happily ever after. Cuz now I know better. You're just a lost boy with your head up in the clouds. Are you a fan of? Were you a big fan of Peter Pan? Is that what drew you to? Cuz obviously the song's got references in there. It's like lost boy it's got the same sort of thing.

I've always just loved those like timeless stories. Right. That's definitely one of them.

If you could write a song about one more right now, if we got on that sofa and we're like right, pick a song. Write a song. What would it be?

Oh, that's good. Pinocchio. He's just a long nose wooden little boy. Come on. He's just a long nose. Wooden little boy. That's quite good.

I'm going to compete with her. We can do it. We can be a duo.

We could be. We could be.

You're just a lost boy. You never keep your feet on the ground. You're always gonna fly away and just because you know you can. Apart from me, though, if you had to share the stage with anyone in the world, who would it be? Dead or alive?

Probably Kelly Clarkson.

Okay, that's a good one.

It's that she can sing everyone under the table. So it's like, I want to be on the stage with her, but I don't want to sing with her because that's just like setting myself up for like major failure.

I wouldn't say that. I feel like your voice is so soft and so like inviting. But you know what I'm talking about. She's so She's my like favorite artist ever. She's a good singer. She's a good singer. You're never gonna learn there's no such place as Neverland. You don't understand you'll never grow up. Have you got any beauty tips you can share for your fans watching?

My My rule is you either do you either play with your eyes or you play with your lips. So you either do like a red lip and a nude eye or a nude lip and a big eye.

That was the southern came out then. Oh yeah. Please. It's so funny. Yeah. On my eye. Eye. Words. Yeah. My Eastern Tennessee comes out. You're never going to be a man, Peter Pan. Do you have any like pre-show rituals? Do you get nervous going on stage?

I do. Okay. Um, me and my band get together on our bus and we all shove up in the front lounge and we crank rap music. This is not a joke. I swear. This is the truth. We crank rap music and we dance for like five minutes. Like ridiculous.

That's amazing.

Epic dancing. And we just like call it like getting the jitters out. And we just dance like crazy.

I love that.

There's videos and pictures. It's been embarrassing, but it helps because you just

That's great.

Get it out of your head. And then you like feel pumped up and You're like, I'm going to go sing now.

I'm feeling really calm now. So now you can go sing called the managers. I'm going to do that my showcase next week. Pinocchio. First single. Oh.