Kelsea Ballerini Talks Hosting, Performing at CMT Music Awards

When the CMT Music Awards return to the Moody Heart in Austin, Texas, for a second run within the venue on Sunday (April 7), five-time Billboard Nation Airplay chart-topper Kelsea Ballerini will host the night, guiding viewers via the performance-packed, awards-filled occasion. The awards present will air stay on CBS and might be accessible to stream stay and on-demand on Paramount+.

“I believe final yr, with it being the primary yr there, the followers have been so excited and you might actually really feel that within the room,” Ballerini tells Billboard through Zoom forward of Sunday’s awards present. “I felt like that basically translated to the oldsters at dwelling watching. To be right here once more, I really feel like we labored out any kinks which will have occurred and now we’re comfortable and we’re prepared.”

This yr, Ballerini is internet hosting the CMT Music Awards solo, after co-hosting the present for the previous three years. In 2021 and 2023, Ballerini led the CMT Music Awards with Kane Brown, whereas in 2022, she co-hosted the present remotely.

“I used to be simply joking that I’m not a lot fearful about messing up the prompter,” Ballerini says of this yr’s solo internet hosting duties. “I’m just a little extra fearful that there’s a variety of stairs and stage to navigate with out an arm to lean on. However I believe Kane taught me properly, so I’m excited. The script is actually humorous, in my view. It’s mild and celebratory.”

Ballerini will pull double-duty on CMT Music Awards evening as not solely host, however a performer. Final yr, she poured the journey of ache and therapeutic post-divorce into her acclaimed and Grammy-nominated undertaking Rolling Up the Welcome Mat. However on Sunday, she is going to have fun a decade within the music highlight when she sings a reimagined model of her debut single “Love Me Like You Imply It.” Ballerini wrote the track alongside Lance Carpenter, Josh Kerr and Forrest Glen Whitehead, and after Ballerini launched it as her debut single in 2014, the track turned her first No. 1 Nation Airplay hit.

“I needed to bookmark it and needed to discover a technique to honor that and likewise problem myself to reconstruct it as a 30-year-old,” Ballerini says. “The message of it’s nonetheless one thing I consider in, which is that you simply settle for the love that you simply consider you deserve and we’re all deserving of fine, loyal love. However how I’d sing it now sounds completely different than how 19-year-old me recorded it. To start with, my voice has modified a lot. Once I hearken to the unique, my voice sounds a lot greater, so I needed to play on this decrease register that I’ve gotten as I’ve grown up. I needed to maintain the integrity of the melodies that made it hooky, so that you hear that within the refrain and also you hear that in a mandolin or sort of like a synth within the background. It retains the integrity of the unique however strikes it ahead.”

Her position as host of the CMT Music Awards additionally marks a full-circle second for Ballerini, who first attended the CMT Music Awards as a fan.

“My first reminiscence of the CMT Music Awards was after I was in highschool. I had simply moved to Nashville and me and a buddy waited outdoors of the barricade on the CMT Music Awards once they have been nonetheless in Nashville. We simply waited for artists to return over as a result of we needed to fulfill them and take photos with them. I keep in mind Keith City came to visit and I’ve an image with him. As a fan, it was one of many craziest moments of my life, so it feels very full-circle to go from the child outdoors the barricade to being the host of the present. That’s not misplaced on me and I’m very excited to be right here.”

Wanting again over her earlier CMT Music Awards appearances and performances, she says a standout was final yr’s efficiency of “If You Go Down (I’m Going Down Too),” when Ballerini was joined by high drag queen performers together with Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan Sport and Olivia Lux.

“I believe after I experience off into the sundown someday, that might be one thing that I’ll cling my hat on ceaselessly. I’m pleased with that,” Ballerini says.

For Ballerini, one of the anticipated moments moments throughout this yr’s present would be the collaboration between Little Massive City and Sugarland. “I really feel like that’s a rustic music crew win,” she says. “I keep in mind I noticed them once they toured collectively after I was nonetheless in [Ballerini’s hometown of] Knoxville, Tennessee and it was among the best reveals I’ve seen. Then they did ‘Life in a Northern City’ [with Jake Owen] on the CMT Music Awards and it was iconic, so to have them crew up once more, I’m excited to see what they do. I do know what they’ll do, as a result of [Little Big Town’s] Karen [Fairchild] is considered one of my good pals, however I’m excited for everybody else to see what they do.”

If she was given the possibility so as to add one artist to the CMT Music Awards billing, Ballerini says one performer specifically instantly involves thoughts: Beyoncé.

Ballerini says of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, “I believe it’s unbelievable, I actually do. I believe having one of many greatest superstars in music historical past make a rustic document is a crew win for nation. The document is so stunning. That can completely be my preparing soundtrack on Sunday.”