One of the highlight performances of the evening, it proved Ballerini is gliding into her superstar era
Kelsea Ballerini took the stage at the 2023 CMA Awards to perform her vulnerable breakup song “Leave Me Again.” With just her voice and her acoustic guitar, she delivered one of the highlight performances of the evening, an understated gem that further proved Ballerini is gliding into her superstar era.
“Leave Me Again” comes off the country musician’s surprise EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which arrived in February. The collection of divorce-inspired songs, which was released alongside a short film, followed Ballerini’s 2022 album Subject to Change. “Leave Me Again” is the EP’s closing track and was written by Ballerini.
The intimate, six-song collection doesn’t explicitly mention her marriage and 2022 divorce from fellow artist Morgan Evans, but it’s clear those life-altering events have shaped these songs in numerous ways. “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was how I processed everything,” Ballerini explained in a statement. “It’s the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music, which is the purest way I could’ve handled it.”
Ballerini added two more songs to the EP in August and re-titled it Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good). “From the deepest and purest part of my heart, I ask that you help this be ours and let the music simply be the music, not dig back into the experience that it was written about nearly a year ago,” she wrote to fans. “As a songwriter, producer, artist I’m proud and protective of this EP, and as a woman and human also proud and protective of the new, happy season of life I’m in.”
In September, Ballerini performed her song “Penthouse” at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Last week she headlined a homecoming show in Knoxville, Tennessee, which featured a surprise appearance by Kenny Chesney.
