With the dust barely settled following Taylor Swift's unexpected split from Calvin Harris, one of the singer's pals is assuring fans that the star is weathering the storm as best she can.
As she attended Wednesday's CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, country star Kelsea Ballerini described the Blank Space singer as a 'strong chick' who will be 'fine'.
'She's incredible. She's a strong chick, I'm sure she's fine,' Kelsea said of Taylor, while speaking with Entertainment Tonight at the Bridgestone Arena.
'It's a bummer,' the blonde musician simply added, bringing the discussion about her pal to a close. It was recently claimed Scottish star Calvin, 32, had ended things with Taylor, 26, because he 'struggled' with her 'regimented' life.
Kelsea Ballerini, who is spending much of her summer co-hosting "Greatest Hits" on ABC, will step onto a smaller stage Aug. 17 at The Bluebird Cafe.
Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $50-$75 and reservations will be accepted starting 8 a.m. Friday at bluebirdcafe.com.
Ballerini has had hits including "Love Me Like You Mean It," "Dibs" and her current single "Peter Pan." The country singer's pop-up performance will benefit Music Makes Us, a joint program between Metro Nashville Public Schools, former Mayor Karl Dean and music industry and community leaders that highlights the importance of music education in schools.
Singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini has announced plans to embark on her first headlining tour, which she accidentally teased at the start of July. Launching in fall, The First Time tour encompasses 11 dates so far with more to be announced soon.
In June 2015, Ballerini became the first woman in nearly a decade to have her debut single hit Number One as "Love Me Like You Mean It" scaled Billboard's Country Airplay chart. She followed that with the top 10 hit "Dibs" and is currently back inside the top 10 with the moody "Peter Pan." Fans and critics immediately began comparing her to Taylor Swift for her pop-influenced, cleverly-written songs about love. "If there's anyone's career who I'd like to have a sliver of similarity to, it would be hers," Ballerini told Rolling Stone Country in 2015. "So I'm glad for the comparisons. The way she puts songwriting and her fans at the forefront, instead of letting everything else fall where it's supposed to fall, that's always something I've really respected about her."
Here are dates so far on Kelsea Ballerini’s The First Time tour:
October 21 - Houston, TX @ House of Blues October 22 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues November 11 - Knoxville, TN @ TN Theatre November 12 - Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre November 18 - Mahnomen, MN @ Shooting Star Casino November 19 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights December 2 - New York City, NY @ Irving Plaza December 3 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom December 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern December 9 - Las Vegas, NV @ Orleans Casino (w/ Cam) December 10 - Las Vegas, NV @ Orleans Casino (w/ Cam)
On Thursday night’s episode of Greatest Hits, Kelsea Ballerini sings Britney Spears’ smash debut single “…Baby One More Time,” and EW has an exclusive preview.
Ballerini sticks with her roots in the beginning of her medley, belting out Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” before going pop-rock with Maroon 5’s “This Love.” Donning a partially nude-colored bodysuit Spears would undoubtedly approve, Ballerini transitions to Spears’ iconic single as background dancers work the stage.
Airing Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, the latest episode of Greatest Hits also finds Fifth Harmony covering Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name,” “Independent Women,” “Bootylicious,” and “Survivor,” plus Little Big Town interpreting Alicia Keys’ “Fallin.’” Additional performers include Zendaya, Mario, Rachel Platten, Lee Ann Womack, Pat Monahan, and Kenny Loggins.
Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini was honored with a surprise Gold certification plaque for her single “Peter Pan” at a performance at the Grand Ole Opry on August 10. To date, the single, which features on her debut album The First Time, has surpassed 500,000 combined sales and streams and has 20 million streams on Spotify. Ballerini wrote the tune with Jesse Lee and Forest Glen Whitehead.
“Songwriting is just my favorite thing in the world,” Ballerini says. “And I love it because every song is born differently. And it comes from a different place, and different idea, or melody or track. And I don’t even think we wrote “Peter Pan” to a track or anything it was just really born from the guitar which is special because most of the songs on my record we wrote to tracks. So I think that’s another element that makes that songs special to me.”