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Kelsea Ballerini brought the best date to the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday evening (February 5): her mom!
The Subject to Change star wore a vibrant yellow gown as she walked the red carpet with Carla Ballerini, sharing in an interview on the carpet that it was Carla who “moved me to Nashville when I was 15,” to support her dreams of becoming an award-winning singer-songwriter. Now, that unwavering support is paying off in a major way.
Kelsea is one of many big-name country artists to receive Grammy Award nods this year. She’s nominated in the Best Country Solo Performance category for “HEARTFIRST,” the debut single from her latest 15-track project (and yes, she freaked out when she learned she’d received a Grammy nod). Kelsea’s “HEARTFIRST” is nominated alongside Zach Bryan’s “Something In The Orange,” Miranda Lambert’s “In His Arms,” Maren Morris’ “Circles Around This Town” and Willie Nelson’s “Live Forever.”
Kelsea wrote “HEARTFIRST” with Karen Fairchild and Alysa Vanderheym, and the song was produced by Julian Bunetta and Shane McAnally. Kelsea explained when she released it in April 2022 that she she “chose ‘HEARTFIRST’ as the first single off the new project because I feel like it just sets the tone for everything I’m working on right now. It’s very warm, very breezy-feeling, very settled. That’s kind of the tone of the whole project that I’m working on, and I feel like ‘HEARTFIRST’ was the first step into that new world.”
See the nominees in all of the country categories here. Find the full list of winners throughout the evening here.