Kelsea Ballerini got sentimental as she reflected on the last year of her life.
“28 (was) a bittersweet year, but surrounded by so much love and light bringing in the next. thank you for the birthday love,” Ballerini said on TikTok. The award-winning singer-songwriter celebrated her 29th birthday on Monday (September 12), and posted a series of photos on her social media channels on Tuesday (September 13) to mark the occasion. Ballerini and her friends “put on our birthday suits, danced, and talked about the things i learned at 28,” she captioned. That list includes:
- friendship is everything
- i’m a double virgo cancer moon
- being busy is my coping mechanism
- dirty martinis are delicious
- a solo drive down the PCH is soul food
- i can keep a plant alive for 365 days
- my voice is for more than singing
- dibs loves apples
- the internet keeps getting weirder
- sometimes wearing heels isn’t worth it
- the right and the hard thing are sometimes the same
- i’m still a sucker for a sonic ocean water
- although brunette was fun, im a blonde
- travel for heck of it
- i’m not scared of the ocean, im scared of the unknown
- not many things make me happier than playing Yhatzee
The reflective message is one that ends with the name of Ballerini’s highly-anticipated album, which is set to release this month. So far, Ballerini — who has also shared a series of stunning looks from her first-ever New York Fashion Week — has debuted four songs from the 15-track project: “HEARTFIRST,” “Love Is A Cowboy,” “The Little Things” and “What I Have.” She’s also teased a “sassbomb” collaboration with Carly Pearce and Kelly Clarkson. Subject To Change, largely inspired by ‘90s female country artists, seems to be a project that’s full of reflection for Ballerini. She previously said:
“In my younger years, the idea of change scared me. It had proven to be a faceless force that patterned my past with uncertainty. Only in the gift of growth have I learned in the stark and constant juxtaposition of life, living happens. That when I unclench my fists, undig my heels, and unravel the architecture built by youth, a true metamorphosis can happen. I’ve been searching somewhere between the broadness of the universe and the simplicity in the little things, reflecting through wiser perspectives, landing with body weight into matters of the heart, and finding blissful acceptance in the inner cracks I once cursed that now let the light in to grow taller within myself. This is a season of becoming, healing, loving, dancing and feeling. And like everything, it is subject to change.”
Subject To Change is set to release on September 23.