Kelsea Ballerini – a little bit Pop and a little bit Country

Female country singers are currently pop music’s top ambassadors at the moment.

One Direction’s Niall Horan was accompanied on his world tour this year by Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris.

Morris also went on to collaborate with Zedd and Grey for the summer smash hit, “The Middle”. And now Kelsea Ballerini has released a duet with the Chainsmokers titled “This Feeling”.

Ballerini told CMT.com, “I’ve never really done a collaboration before,” “I did one song with Aldean, and we recorded it separately, and we’ve never sung it live together. And so this is my first [pop] collaboration. I’ve always wanted to work with them, and I’ve covered their songs on tour, and we’ve been friends for a couple of years. The right song came along. It’s a big trend right now having country and EDM collide a bit.”

Kelsea mentioned that country musicians dipping their toes into pop music is not a new concept, and how collaborations between pop and country aren’t exclusive to female artists, either.

“I think it’s a really cool time because ‘Meant to Be,’ and ‘Body Like a Back Road’ [are huge],” Ballerini added, “not leaving the men out because they’re a big part of it, too. But yeah, Maren, obviously ‘The Middle’ is the biggest song pop music’s had in the last two years I think. And then collaborating with the Chainsmokers, I think the cool thing about all of that is people that think they don’t like country music will hear it, and then they’ll go listen to country music, and then they’ll realize they’re wrong.”

Ballerini is ranked among this year’s CMT Artists of the Year along with Morris, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman and Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott. Be sure to tune in to see these powerful women get recognized during an all-star special premiering live from Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Oct. 17.

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Photo Credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com