Kelsea Ballerini won’t stay quiet when it comes to haters attacking her art. The singer took to social media to set the record straight after she was accused of lip-syncing during her People’s Choice Country Awards performance on Thursday night (Sept. 28).
The rumors started after she took the stage to sing her song “Mountain With a View,” and some alleged that the Tennessee artist was not performing live. Ballerini was quick to shut down the shamers after the show with a short, to-the-point video.
“I just want to say, if I was lip-syncing, I would’ve sounded a lot better,” Ballerini says in her Instagram Stories. “One of the cameras was off. Thank you and goodnight.”
The “If You Go Down” artist wasn’t done there, though: The next slide included a photo of Ballerini, shared from her feed, flipping her hair and giving some major side eye, with her other hand on her hip.
“Me singing live watching people thing otherwise,” she writes above the sassy photo.
“Mountain With a View” appears on Ballerini’s latest project, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat. The project is a collection of songs written in the aftermath of her divorce from fellow singer Morgan Evans. The two were married for five years before calling it quits.
Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was nominated for Album of 2023 at the awards show, but ultimately the trophy was given to Morgan Wallen‘s One Thing at a Time.
Ballerini was also nominated for Female Artist (went to Lainey Wilson), Social Country Star (Blake Shelton won) and the biggest award of the night, the People’s Artist (this one was Wallen’s).
8 Brutally Honest Divorce Lyrics From Kelsea Ballerini’s ‘Rolling Up the Welcome Mat’ EP
Kelsea Balerini opened up her divorce diary in February 2023 with her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, a project that follows the stages of a breakup — from grief and loneliness to anger to acceptance — in chronological order. Here are eight of the most revealing lyrics from the project.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak