Kelsea Ballerini shared a health update on Thursday (February 6) after powering through a performance amid illness earlier this week. The show was part of the powerhouse singer-songwriter’s first headlining arena tour.
“For those sweet angel humans asking, I’m feeling better,” Ballerini wrote in a statement on her Instagram story, along with a fiery photo from one of her recent tour stops. “Got some good rest (WOW I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE SLEEP) and the meds are doing their job and I can’t wait to perform for you tonight. My voice is still a little raspy (like the Phoebe [Buffay, from Friends] sexy voice) and I will see you on that stage. No way I’m letting you down.”
Ballerini’s next show is set for Thursday evening at Keybank Center in Buffalo, New York. Fan-recorded videos circulated earlier this week as Ballerini addressed the audience about her health at her show in Detroit, Michigan. Ballerini told the Little Caesars Arena crowd that she was under the weather, “but here’s the tea. I’m also a perfectionist, and I also have this crippling fear of letting people down. So I’m gonna give you absolutely every ounce of everything I have left in the tank tonight.” In another video shared by a Ballerini fan account, the Patterns star apologized to a group of fans for having to cancel their meet-and-greet: “I’m sorry. ...I haven’t done that this whole tour, and I would never do that unless it was — it’s just to keep you safe.
“Thank you for being here. Thank you for understanding.”
Ballerini kicked off her first headlining arena tour last month. She announced the tour after the release of her highly-anticipated fifth studio album, Patterns. the record released in late October, and Ballerini celebrated with a sold out album release show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Ballerini wrote Patterns with an all-female team of writers and producers (Alysa Vanderheym, Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild, Jessie Jo Dillon and Hillary Lindsey), ending up with a collectinon that includes “Sorry Mom,” “Baggage,” “First Rodeo,” “Two Things,” “We Broke Up,” “Cowboys Cry Too” Noah Kahan, “I Would, Would You” and more. Ballerini “accidentally” let it slip that she’s working on a deluxe edition of the album.
“It is a love record. It’s full of love—self-love, love for my family, my friends, my partner, whatever,” Ballerini said of Patterns in an interview with Byrdie. “But it’s the nuance of it, the growth of it, the tension within it… that is so necessary and interesting to me.”
Ballerini’s tour includes special guests Sasha Alex Sloan, Ashe, The Japanese House and MaRynn Taylor. See the list of tour stops here.