Kelsea Ballerini is enjoying her first season as a coach on The Voice. The 31-year-old is working alongside John Legend, Adam Levine and Michael Bublé, filling the seat left vacant when Reba McEntire exited the show after last season.
“I was conspiring for years,” Ballerini tells Extra TV. “I really wanted to do this, so I’m excited.”
Ballerini had formerly been a Battle Advisor for Kelly Clarkson’s team, and also been a coach for the Comeback Stage. She always wanted to fill one of the red swivel chairs, which is why she championed so hard for the role, ever since it was announced that Blake Shelton was exiting the show.
“The producers came to Nashville,” Ballerini recounts. “This was I think two years ago, and they were interviewing several country artists. That’s all I knew, and it was after Blake had retired. And so I was like, ‘I know the seat’s open. I really want it.’ So we had this dinner, and we’re talking about things coming up, all this stuff. And I just leaned across the table at the end, and I’m like, ‘Listen, I don’t know who else you’re talking to, and I’m sure you’re talking to legends and people who have way more hits and stuff than I do, but I really want this. And I can do it. I know I can do it. If you trust me, I promise I’ll do a good job.’
“I don’t really know what came over me, ’cause I’m very not like that,” she adds. “But I was very proud of myself for saying that. And two years later, here we are.”
Ballerini is enjoying working with the singers on her team on The Voice, but she is also enjoying working with the other coaches as well, forming a close bond on and off stage.
“We have a group chat and it is the most pure,” Ballerini reveals on Amazon’s Country Heat Weekly. “It’s like they’re sending [pictures of] their kids, I’m sending the dogs. They’re like, ‘Hey, does anyone want cinnamon rolls on the way to work today? Bring cinnamon rolls.’ There’s not one single day that we have left that show and someone doesn’t text the group and say, ‘Hey, that was really great work today, team. Good show.’”
Ahead of her inaugural season as a coach, Ballerini said she was thrilled — and a bit nervous — about her new role.
“I’m so excited,” Ballerini gushes to People. “I’m excited because it’s just such a new adventure. I’ve gotten to be on set in different capacities over the years, but to really assume that role as a coach — it’s really going to stretch me and it’s going to be a new opportunity.”
In addition to appearing on The Voice, Ballerini is getting ready to headline the second half of her headlining Live on Tour. She currently has a Top 25 hit with “Cowboys Cry Too,” a duet with Noah Kahan. Find all of Ballerini’s music and upcoming shows at KelseaBallerini.com.
The Voice airs on NBC on Monday nights at 8:00 PM ET.
Photo Credit: NBC / Trae Patton