From her intimate single, “homecoming queen?,” to her forthcoming book of poetry, Kelsea Ballerini has been making it a point recently to be vulnerable and authentic in her art. But that hasn’t always come easily to her.

The singer admits to People, “I think it’s a journey. I think it’s always evolving. I have days where I feel insecure and days where it’s hard. I’m human.”

Kelsea also knows how important it can be for those in the public eye to be transparent about their insecurities and vulnerabilities with fans. As an example, Kelsea says she’s proud of pop superstar Lizzo, who has recently faced an onslaught of racist and sexist comments on social media, and opened up to her fans about how hurt she was by the messages. 

“When someone, especially with Lizzo’s platform, is able to say, ‘I’m human and even though I try to put my most confident self forward..As a public figure, this hurts my feelings.’…I think when someone at that level is able to do that, it normalizes it,” Kelsea explains.

“It helps every person that’s at home crying because some troll on the Internet told them they looked bad in whatever form or fashion. It makes them go, ‘It’s not just me. I’m not alone,’” the singer continues. 

Most recently, Kelsea celebrated her journey to self-love in partnership with clothing brand Aerie as part of their #AerieReal campaign, which seeks to empower people to celebrate what they love about themselves. 

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