Kelsea Ballerini just released her fifth studio album, Patterns, on Friday (October 25). There is a newfound sense of maturity and vulnerability within the record’s 15 tracks, as the 31-year-old openly addresses her recent divorce while also adjusting to a new decade of her life. “I think this thing happens when you turn 30 where you kind of assess your life,” says Ballerini in a new People magazine feature. “And I came up for air and I was like, ‘Okay, all right, let’s take a little inventory here. What in my life right now do I love? What feels uncomfortable?” While answering those probing questions about herself, Ballerini hit on the underlying message of the entire album, with those personal revelations, concerns, and habits of hers addressed head-on in her songwriting. “That’s, really, thematically the whole record,” reveals Ballerini. “It’s just a deep dive in the self-assessment of entering my thirties.” (People)
