Kelsea Ballerini Dazzles In Eye-Popping Strapless Gown With Bold Cutout

Kelsea Ballerini turned heads in a shimmering strapless gown with a bold cutout when she walked the red carpet at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday (March 17). The show returned to the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California.

Ballerini is attending the star-studded show in the midst of her first-ever headlining arena tour. The Patterns megastar said she had to attend to catch a performance by her hometown hero, country icon Kenny Chesney. Chesney is one of many artists taking the stage throughout the genre-spanning show, along with Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, GloRilla, Gracie Abrams, Muni Long, Nelly and others.

Ballerini kicked off her arena tour after she released her fifth studio album, Patterns, in October. The singer-songwriter teamed up with Alysa Vanderheym, Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild, Jessie Jo Dillon and Hillary Lindsey to bring the record to life. Ballerini said at the time that she took “the beautiful and brutal look into myself and the people I love the most. The celebrations and challenges in the name of betterment, growth, and all around elevated vibes. The healthy habits that I hold close and the ones that gotta go.

“Written from my truest self, but meant for you to project onto your own lives and try on for fit,” she continued “Whether you relate, want a song to cry in the back of an Uber music video style to, dramatically/drunkenly tell someone how much you love them, or scream sing about moments gone wrong before they went right…it’s all yours.” Ballerini added that she embraced a sense of freedom unlike ever before while creating the record, and credited “the angel-on-earth women who made it with me…the womanhood we made this with will forever be the award.”

Ballerini “accidentally” confirmed the deluxe edition of Patterns in interview with Byrdie. She revealed the release date of the extended record during her February 26 tour stop in Fort Worth, Texas, and played “Future Tripping,” one of the then-unreleased anthems at that show. Ballerini’s deluxe album arrived on Friday, March 7. New tracks also include “To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak,” “Put It To Bed,” “Cut Me Up” and “Hindsight Is Happiness.” The new songs join “Baggage,” “First Rodeo,” “Two Things,” “We Broke Up,” “Cowboys Cry Too” with Noah Kahan and other fan-favorites from the original edition of Patterns.

Ballerini said on the iHeartRadio Music Awards red carpet that it’s a “full circle” moment for her to headline an arena tour for the first time. The East Tennessee-born country artist said it’s been a lifelong dream of hers — and particularly, a dream in the last 10 years she’s been releasing music — and she’s “really proud to be here.” Ballerini also said “it’s an honor, and it’s not lost on me,” that thousands of fans show up because they feel so connected to Ballerini and her music. She aims to have something for everyone at the electrifying concerts. Ballerini’s next stop on her arena tour is set for Tuesday evening (March 18) in Sacramento, California. She’ll return to L.A. to perform on Friday (March 21). The tour includes special guests Sasha Alex Sloan, Ashe, The Japanese House and MaRynn Taylor. See the list of tour stops here.

Keep up with the live-updated list of winners throughout the evening, plus recaps of electrifying performances, tributes to legendary artists, and other can’t-miss moments throughout the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards.

This year’s iHeartRadio Music Awards also honored the resiliency and rebuilding of Los Angeles following the devastating wildfires affecting the entire community and will drive donations to FireAidLA.org. Contributions made to FireAid will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation, for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters. The Annenberg Foundation, with decades of philanthropic leadership in the community, including rapid response, will help coordinate a team to direct funds for the greatest impact.

The 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards is slated to air on Monday evening on FOX from 8:00-10:00pm ET live/PT tape-delayed. The show is also broadcast on iHeartRadio stations nationwide and on the free iHeartRadio app.