Kelsea Ballerini - Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good): New Album 2023 Release Date and Tracklist

Kelsea Ballerini only released her seismic Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP in February, but the Tennessee star has already unveiled an expanded ‘Deluxe’ version of the widely acclaimed project, which is set to be made available on August 11.

Pointedly entitled ‘Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good)’, the eagerly awaited re-release includes two revamped versions of ‘Penthouse’ and ‘Blindsided’, along with a ‘Full Length’ version of ‘Interlude’ and a brand new track, ‘How Do I Do This’.

Kelsea announced the extended EP during the first Under The Welcome Mat screening of the original project's accompanying short film in Los Angeles on August 1, following a slew of teasers and hints that the project was on the way in recent weeks.

Delving intricately and powerfully into Kelsea's divorce from fellow country artist, Morgan Evans, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat continues to be championed as some of the ‘Peter Pan’ hitmaker's most incisive and groundbreaking work to date.

While out on the road as part of her hugely popular Heartfirst world tour, Kelsea Ballerini teased new versions of a couple of Rolling Up The Welcome Mat tracks.

For instance, during her high-profile appearance on Saturday Night Live in early March, Kelsea added a previously unheard verse to ‘Blindsided’, which features the new lyrics, “Now you’re singing it loud on the radio / You couldn’t say it to my face / You would have searched the whole world over? / Yeah, sure, okay”.

This revised version of ‘Blindsided’ pointedly flips a line taken from Morgan Evans’ own divorce-inspired ballad, ‘Over For You’, during which he sings, “I would have searched the whole world over for you / Took a flight, through the night / To be that shoulder for you”.

Along with the ‘Yeah, Sure Okay’ rendition of ‘Blindsided’, a revamped ‘Healed Version’ rendition of ‘Penthouse’ is also due to be included on Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (Deluxe).

Kelsea has been altering a key lyric in the fan-favourite song while on tour, singing, “I kissed someone new last night / And now I don't care where you're sleeping, baby” instead of the original, “I kissed someone new last night / But now I don't know where you're sleeping, baby”.

In the lead-up to the Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good) announcement, we were hoping Kelsea Ballerini might treat fans to a completely new track as well as these updated tracks. Excitingly, we're getting our wish, with Kelsea adding the never-heard-before ‘How Do I Do This’ to the tracklist, along with a ‘Full Length’ version of ’Interlude’.

Although inevitably an incredibly vulnerable and open project, in tandem with the confirmation that Rolling Up The Welcome Mat (For Good) would be arriving on August 11, Kelsea Ballerini made a point of asking her fans not to dig too deeply into the heartbreaking personal experiences that informed the body of work.

Kelsea underlined across her socials, “as a songwriter, producer, artist i’m proud and protective of this EP, and as a woman and human also proud and protective of the new, happy season of life i’m in”.

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