Kelsea Ballerini Celebrates 1st #1

Kelsea Ballerini has her first #1 with “Love Me Like You Mean It,” so Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton and his co-host Easton Corbin called her to congratulate her.

“I knew it was a possibility for me this week, but obviously I didn’t know if I would make it or not.  My label called me, and they were like, ‘Make sure you film it,’ and I said, ‘Of course cause you want to see me ugly cry.’  And what did I do?  I ugly cried!  I just know as a new artist, it’s hard and competitive, and to be a new female artist on an independent label, and to have a #1, it makes me so proud.  I’m giving myself an excuse to eat cake all day!”

Easton Corbin could relate, because his debut song, “A Little More Country Than That,” went to #1 5 years ago.  He told Kelsea: “It’s a great feeling.  You’ll never have that feeling, the first one, again.”

Lon asked her the first time she heard Easton’s debut #1: “Can I tell you a story?  When I first moved to Nashville, I was 15, and I went to a writer’s showcase, and one of the writers of that song was there and he said, ‘This new kid just cut this song,’ and he did A Little More Country Than That. It was way before it came out.  Then I heard it on the radio.”

So I saw a tweet from Carrie Underwood, but who else have you heard from? “I love it, there have been so many girls who tweeted me, like Martina, and Little Big Town.  That’s what I love about country music.  I’m a fan of all of these artists, and I’ve met most of them, just the way they encourage new artists like me, that’s a big deal

Watch Kelsea “ugly cry” here:

Tags: kelsea ballerini

Category: Audio, VIDEO