The creation process behind Kelsea Ballerini‘s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good) may have been unorthodox, but it came together in the best way possible.

“I sound like a broken record because I say it all the time. But Welcome Mat has just been the anomaly of my career because I wrote it so differently than I would any other album,” Kelsea tells the press. “I had just written my, like, proper 13-song — you know, through the label, A&R [artist and repertoire] — record. And then I very quietly was obviously going through a very big life change.”

“I made this record really selfishly, like truly for myself, and didn’t worry about where the songs would fit or if they would work in X, Y and Z,” she shares.

Now, Kelsea embraces her opportunities to sing these deeply personal, life-changing songs live.

“It was just like creative freedom and emotional freedom, and it changed my life. And so anytime I get to play these songs now, the songs that I swore I would never play live, now they’re the songs that I look forward to the most,” says Kelsea.

You can catch Kelsea performing on the Jelly Roll and Ashley McBryde-hosted CMA Fest television special, airing June 25 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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