In Her Campus’ series Next Question, we rapid-fire interview talent Gen Z loves about what it’s like to rule over pop culture. This month, Kelsea Ballerini is in the hot seat to answer our burning questions.
Kelsea Ballerini is taking the summer off. “I just ordered a Paint By Numbers that I’m going to do next week. It was on Amazon Prime for Prime Day. It just said, ‘Paint by numbers for adults and for beginners.’ I was like, that feels right,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview.
After dropping her album Patterns in October 2024 and spending the first half of 2025 on tour and judging The Voice, it’s only right that Ballerini takes some time for herself. “I really wanted to spend time with my dog, so that’s been really wonderful,” she says. Ballerini has a 10-year-old doodle named Dibs, and Ballerini’s boyfriend, Chase Stokes, has a Shepherd-Retriever mix named Milo. “We’re in Charleston, so just bringing both the dogs to the beach has been so joyful.”
Ballerini says her “slow girl summer” has been helpful for her body, too. “I was putting hair, skin, body, and mind through it for the spring. Right now, I’m just doing the rest phase and trying to get things back to a really good, healthy, bare minimum.” She’s taking that same approach with her current hair routine. “I’m doing hair oil at night, washing it in the morning, letting it air dry, and just letting it go for a while.” Her favorite product right now? Pantene’s Miracle Rescue Regenerative Hair Oil ($13). “It’s my go-to. It was actually my go-to on tour, too, and worked wonders and smells really good,” she says.
There is one person who doesn’t need any help in the hair department, though, and Ballerini says that’s Stokes. “The infuriating thing about Chase’s hair is that he doesn’t have to try. It’s naturally so thick, and it has this perfect little wave flip to it,” she says. “He wakes up and it looks like that. I’m like, can’t we turn the tables here?”
During her downtime, Ballerini has also been focusing on her next era of music. “I have been writing again, just very slowly starting that process to figure out what could be next,” she tells me. The new music explores “what it feels like to be a 31-year-old girl, and all of the victories and the confidence that comes with that, but then also the feeling of growing up and growing into truly being a woman, and what that looks like and the questions that come with that.” This new stage of her life has its own set of complexities, but she laughs, “Nobody could pay me to go back to my 20s. No, thank you!”
For those still in their 20s, Ballerini has some sage advice: “Society tells you that there’s a certain plan for your life, and if you do all these steps that are given to you, then you’ll be successful. But I think the bigger question is, what makes you happy? Because that’s all you really have in life. Letting that journey take you wherever it’s going to take you can be terrifying, but at the end of the day, it’s way more fulfilling and rewarding.”
As for what Ballerini will be up to after her break, she’s gearing up for a stretch of tour dates in Australia this December. (It’s a brutal flight, but Ballerini has it down to a science: “One movie, two glasses of wine, stay up for the first meal, and then Nyquil to sleep.”) She’s excited to perform there for the first time in six years. “I haven’t toured in Australia since 2019, and there’s been a lot of music that’s come out since then. It will be a lot of Patterns, but then dusting off some songs that we haven’t played in a while that I haven’t gotten to bring over there yet.”
But even with some big shows on the horizon, Ballerini is focused on manifesting more of that slow, steady calmness. “I really value real life more than I ever have,” she says. “Being able to find stillness and peace within that without having a [major] tour on the horizon — without having stepping stones to reach to, and just go, my real life as its own entity is enough for me, and that way, everything else feels like extra and bonus — is the peace that I’m trying to cultivate.”
The following responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What’s Your Go-To Coffee Order?
Hot black. It just gets the job done.
What’s Your Most-Used Emoji At The Moment?
Probably the white heart. So basic.
What’s Your Go-To Song While Getting Ready For A Night Out?
“Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” by Role Model. Sally, that feeling’s coming around. I can’t get enough of it!
What’s Your Favorite Quote That You Live By?
“Care more about less.”
Where Is Your Favorite Summer Travel Spot?
I just took a girls’ trip to Paris. That was simply it for me.
If You Could Choose To Have One Celebrity’s Hair, Who Would It Be?
I am trying not to want for anything that I don’t have, so I’m going to say no one. We’re just going to rock and roll with what we got.
What Are You Manifesting For The Fall?
I really want to be digging into music or doing something in the film space. I would like to be making a record or in a movie.