Kelsea Ballerini has announced that her upcoming fifth studio album, Subject to changewill be released on September 23. She recently released the first song from the upcoming project, with the bubbly lead track, “Heartfirst,” which Ballerini wrote with Alysa Vanderheym and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild.

“In my younger years, the idea of ​​change scared me,” Ballerini said on social media, describing her journey of growth through this project. “He turned out to be a faceless force that shaped my past with uncertainty. It was only in the gift of growth that I learned that in the brutal and constant juxtaposition of life, life happens – that when I unclench my fists, dig up my heels and unravel the architecture built by youth, a true metamorphosis can occur.

“I searched somewhere between the expanse of the universe and the simplicity in the little things, reflecting through wiser perspectives, leaning with body weight on matters of the heart, and finding happy acceptance in the inner cracks that I had cursed, but now let the light in to grow within me. This is a season of becoming, of healing, of love, of dancing and of feeling. And like everything, it is subject to change” , she added.

Subject to change will follow Ballerini’s double-shot of the eponymous 2020 projects, kelsea and ballerina. The project is also the latest in a series of prolific writings for Ballerini, who published the intensely personal book of poetry, Feel your way throughLast year.

On July 10, Ballerini shared clues about the new album via an impromptu Q&A session on ICT Tac. Asked by a fan if the album as a whole would lean more towards country-pop or more traditional country, Ballerini noted that the project was definitely influenced by strong female country artists.

“I will say the sound of this hypothetical record is definitely unlike anything I’ve ever done. It’s heavily influenced by – I would say 90s music in general, but definitely 90s women’s country,” said she explained.

Over the past year, Ballerini has also expanded her awards, winning Country Music Association honors for Music Event of the Year and Video of the Year (both for “Half of My Hometown” with Kenny Chesney, another East Tennessee native of Ballerini). Ballerini also won a CMT Music Award last year in the CMT Performance of the Year category for “The Other Girl” featuring Halsey.