Kelsea Ballerini Channels Taylor Swift on New “Legends” Single
Those who’ve been waiting impatiently for a new Taylor Swift single finally have their wish. It just happens to be coming from Kelsea Ballerini. Many have considered Kelsea as the most obvious choice to replace Swift in country music since similarly to Taylor, there’s really nothing country about Kelsea. In a sane world though, nobody would be replacing Taylor Swift because Taylor shouldn’t have been labeled country in the first place. Eventually Swift came to this conclusion herself and did the right thing by scooting over to pop. But since Taylor touted Ballerini hard and heavy when Kelsea first came on the scene, and they’re both more pop than anything, the comparisons continue.
Unlike Taylor Swift though, Kelsea has yet to evidence any underlying substance to her music like Taylor Swift did later on in her country career. It may have been mislabeled, but there was something about a Taylor Swift song that clearly resonated with the public deeper than just bubblegum pop, even if older country fans come to this conclusion begrudgingly. Ballerini hasn’t had that same impact though. She’s all giggles and coos, cute boys this, and cute boys that. Taylor Swift became a superstar by expressing vulnerability that millions of awkward girls could identify with. You wonder if Ballerini ever stops smiling or has a sad moment. You want to know that she bleeds. You want to see a bead of sweat emanate from her brow just to know she’s actually human.
Forget that Kelsea Ballerini’s first three singles went #1 on the country charts. She’s mainstream country’s token female—the reason radio programmers can boast about inroads being made in the gender gap when no real underlying change has been made. It doesn’t count if you crest the country charts with a pop song. It’s just a different set of problems. Ballerini’s singles heretofore have been godawful. That recent “Yeah Boy” track was vomitous. Now it’s time to get ready for her second album, and just like Swift, she needs to evidence some maturation.
“Legends” is a Taylor Swift song circa Swift’s Speak Now/Red era, plain and simple. The subject matter, the style, including how it’s sung by going to the falsetto for the final word of the phrase, the production, including the “ooh’s” at the 2:50 mark which were a favorite of Swift during that period, even the cover art is similar, with the purple/pink hues from Taylor Swift’s dress on the Speak Now album cover matching the “Legends” color scheme, as well as the shimmer accents and cursive writing. The chords of “Legends” are darker than most pop, just like a Swift song. The story is about a break up, which we all can concur Taylor Swift’s best known for.
With “Legends,” Kelsea Ballerini, purposefully or subconsciously is retreading the steps Taylor Swift took to superstardom, which also means it’s a somewhat improved direction for Kelsea Ballerini, however slight, and however non country it continues to be. Kelsea Ballerini aping mid-era Taylor Swift is not a bad thing compared to “Yeah Boy,” “Love Me Like You Mean It,” or the stupid “Dibs.” The piano of “Legends” is somewhat welcoming, even if the ethereal productions treatments (similar to many Swift songs) makes you feel like you’re floating through cotton candy clouds instead of listening to a country song.
And that’s where to underlying problem with “Legends” remains. No matter how improved the songwriting might be (and it is), no matter how much vulnerability Ballerini may try to illustrate on the track (and she does), it’s still in no respect country music, and Ballerini still struggles to connect with the audience because she’s a little too perfect. It was Taylor Swift’s flaws that made her appealing. “Legends” takes Ballerini to the point where she isn’t bad as pop, but it’s still bad because it’s labeled country.
Kelsea Ballerini following Taylor Swift may not be a bad strategy. But it also means that her next move should be coming clean to her fans and herself, just like Swift did, and switching genres. And then possibly, just like Swift, she can extricate herself from the conflicts surrounding her music, and be allowed to flourish.
June 12, 2017 @ 7:57 am
I just saw her lip-sync this on the CMT awards…was not impressed (ok maybe it wasn’t lip-synced…but it sounded so “track-ish”…). I call her “Britney Spears does country”…just not my thing.
June 12, 2017 @ 7:59 am
“She’s mainstream country’s token female—the reason radio programmers can boast about inroads being made in the gender gap when no real underlying change has been made.”
Nepotism alert: her father is/was a radio programmer.
June 12, 2017 @ 10:45 am
Kelsea’s dad struck gold. Not because she can sing, though. It’s because she can’t think deeply enough to wonder why he wouldn’t feature more women on the radio rather than thinking there are plenty of women on the radio because she happens to be getting airplay.
That’s about as kindly as I can put it.
June 12, 2017 @ 8:05 am
I can’t tell you anything about her music because whenever I see her on tv I just see dem legs
June 12, 2017 @ 8:17 am
This “artist” doesn’t deserve to be mentioned on this site. This is much too far from being country, music, or savable.
June 12, 2017 @ 8:33 am
If I don’t criticize Kelsea Ballerini, if I don’t put it in print that she doesn’t belong in country, then nobody will, and she will go completely unchallenged. The point of Saving Country Music is not just to preach to a choir, but to present differing and critical viewpoints to the entire country music community with the hope of improving the music.
June 12, 2017 @ 9:51 am
I completely agree. That was more of a compliment to you and this site. 🙂
June 12, 2017 @ 8:31 am
Well, I am tired of hearing congratulations showered on Taylor for finally doing the right thing and leaving fully for pop. It wasn’t even much of a sacrifice. She left after bleeding country music for all it could give her and making her a superstar. It wasn’t a risk or a bold statement. It was the logical choice.
And then she leaves but she pumps up her replacement. Kelsey is Taylor 2.0 minus the fake vulnerability and the false narrative of “I am just like you, teenage girl, even if I have a mansion and could have every boy in America.”
Kelsey is Taylor if Taylor was being honest.
June 12, 2017 @ 8:38 am
Honestly, I don’t think Swift “flourished” at all by switching genres. Her post-Speak Now albums are overproduced, lack the specificity of her point of view, and generally feel like she’s trying way too hard.
She’s not country, but I genuinely feel that Swift works best with a singer-songwriter, girl and her guitar, sound. It helps her write to her strengths, and around her vocal limitations.
June 12, 2017 @ 11:16 am
I actually like Taylor Swift – was she pop? Yeah, but something felt more organic about her music. Kelsea doesn’t give me that vibe – which is why she seems like a country-music version of Britney Spears to me.
June 12, 2017 @ 11:50 am
So do I.
Until Red and 1989, there was a powerful specificity in her songwriting…and I never doubted that she was making exactly the kind of music she wanted to make.
If all pop country was as good as Swift’s stuff, we’d be much better off.
June 12, 2017 @ 5:23 pm
I agree with both of you here and always said it. I respect the hell out of Swift’s ability to write and play what she wants to play. Great singer? No….but I sure as hell respect Swift writing her own songs, that young girls relate to, more than I do 99% of the garbage male country singers are regurgitating to masses of young girls…..
November 2, 2017 @ 12:16 pm
You can make a lot more money dominating the top 40 world than dominating the country world. The downside is it’s much harder to sustain a career in the top 40 world. A few artists are lucky enough to have a big album or two, but many more have just one (or even just one or two big songs and that’s it). If you’re able to break through at country radio, there’s a better chance you can keep it going for many years or even a decade plus.
Taylor made a lot of money in country, but she’s making even more money now in top 40.
June 12, 2017 @ 10:14 am
There are so many talented female artists out there that have real things to say and can’t catch a break.
But let’s face it, country radio is pop music. All candy, no nutritional value.
I don’t begrudge anyone success. And you need skills to make it to that level.
But so cookie cutter..
June 12, 2017 @ 10:45 am
Another thing, I don’t think Kelsey or her handlers find it necessary to emulate any of Swift’s famous vulnerability. They are not replacing early Taylor, they are replacing later Taylor. Or a Taylor that never left for pop.
Taylor Swift and her conspirators were clever. They knew if Taylor’s image was the same as any other teenage sensation, she wouldn’t last. So Taylor sang the most treacherous, conniving song in country music history, “Teardrops on my Guitar.” It was a brilliant decision. Thousands, if not millions of teenage girls, saw themselves in Taylor, fathers saw their daughters in the portrayal of innocence (even though many of their daughters are probably the bullies) and mothers saw a healthy role model in the cesspool that is popular music. Especially at that time.
Country Music radio is going to continue to prop her up because if they can’t have Taylor back, at least they can have Taylor 2.0.
June 12, 2017 @ 11:12 am
Country Music radio is going to continue to prop her up because if they can’t have Taylor back, at least they can have Taylor 2.0.
More importantly than having Taylor herself, they have a version of Taylor who doesn’t talk back or question the status quo.
June 13, 2017 @ 10:27 pm
Yes, Teardrops on My Guitar was one of the most manipulative songs of all time. By playing the victim she convinced millions of young girls that she felt their imaginary adolescent pain, while arousing the protective instincts of America’s parents. That set her up nicely for the skit with Kanye at the 2009 VMAs. And by branding her as America’s sweetheart, it immunized her from most criticism for several years, as if she could do no wrong. For a few years it became politically incorrect to criticize her, unless you were a hard core feminist. She’s not country and isn’t a very talented singer, but damn she can play the game of identity politics better than just about anyone.
June 12, 2017 @ 11:04 am
The thing about Taylor is that she was just using country music as a launching pad to a legitimate pop career (see also: Hunt, Sam). She was a perfectly cute 16 year old, but she didn’t have the slick good looks and charisma needed to compete with other pop singers, or the vocal talent to back up her “just me, my guitar, and my diary” schtick. Country had an opening in the earnest teenager niche that was left vacant by Leann Rimes and the business savvy Swifts went for it. Can’t fault them for it, but I consider it fair game when people call her out on how disingenuous she has always been.
How does that relate to Kelsea? Because I can see her trying the same, and it’s one more slap in the face for country music. Not only is the genre glutted with bro-country neanderthals, but it’s being treated as either a stop-gap on the way to a “bigger” career by wanna-be pop stars or as a cash grab by washed up hair metal singers who want to earn a few bucks on the back on the bro-country trend. How can we the listeners respect country music if country music can’t respect itself?
June 12, 2017 @ 2:03 pm
Kelsea nice to look at but her music isn’t that great.
June 12, 2017 @ 2:06 pm
The problem with Kelsea Most-Annoying-Sounding-Last-Name-in-Music-History is that I don’t think she could convincingly portray vulnerability or struggle or the idea of overcoming anything. Maybe she’s had tough times in her life but when she literally comes off as bubbly and happy to the point of ignorance, how can she flip the script on that? That doesn’t mean she’s ignorant, or that she isn’t aware of what real struggle is, but it is the vibe that has been given..
She is a fairly talented singer, so it would be interesting to see what she could make of better material. As of right now I’m indifferent to her. While I don’t like any of her singles, every time one of them is a played, a Thomas Rhett song isn’t being played, and that’s a victory not just for country music, but for humanity.
June 12, 2017 @ 2:27 pm
Connie Zamboni is a dog faced gremlin
June 12, 2017 @ 4:25 pm
Just like Sam Hunt she will not survive if she were to switch to pop, she’ll be a ‘small fish in a big pond’. It’s disheartening that we can’t differentiate between pop and country. Thank God for SCM for helping people discover artists radio has refused to acknowledge
June 12, 2017 @ 5:48 pm
Sam is lame pop dressed up as “Country Music” because he knows people will buy it. Which is sad what the people who buy this music today.
June 12, 2017 @ 5:25 pm
Gimme that poon
June 12, 2017 @ 6:04 pm
What probably should worry country music fans the most about Kelsea Ballerini, in my opinion, is to the extent that the Music Row machinery is being fooled into believing she’s bringing a new audience of teens and young adults to the form, with stuff like “Legends”, or, God spare us, the hammy twang she lays on with “Dibs” and “Yeah Boy”. It’s a short-sighted, wrong-headed way of thinking that really damages the genre as a whole, and, apart from Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, shuts every other really potentially great female artist out in the cold when it comes to country radio. Or maybe it continues what we all seem to know about country radio, that it’s misogynistic except when it comes to “sweet young things” like K-Bal.
And besides that, can they really be THAT delusional to think that the teen/young adult audience will have a long-term commitment to the country music genre? Kelsea Ballerini is basically part of a generation of Hot Young Country stars that seems to have no actual appreciation, knowledge, or understanding of the genre they are allegedly a part of–the first generation of which that can legitimately be said. And what’s going to happen could be the disintegration of a legitimate part of the American musical landscape, and a part of our own history (IMHO).
June 12, 2017 @ 6:53 pm
Speaking of Taylor, did you see her music is back on Spotify?
June 13, 2017 @ 12:30 am
This seems like Kelsea tried to write herself a version of Taylor’s “Long Live.” Except Taylor’s song is actually pretty touching and I’m getting nothing from “Legends.” I’m sure Kelsea is a nice girl, but I think you hit the nail on the head when you mention how she gives off a certain fake aura about her. She has pretty much been airing her whole life over social media (opposite of Taylor lol) but do we know her at all?
If “Legends” not sounding like “Dibs” and “Yeah Boy” is a check in the positive column, then okay….but… :/
June 13, 2017 @ 12:37 am
Country Format Needs to Split:
You have suggested this before and although I see the logic in your argument, I have always been resistive to this idea.
Not anymore. I have nothing personal against Ballerini, Sam Hunt, Keith Urban, etc… but their output is simply not country music. If you played their music to people unfamiliar with who they are, they would never categorize it as country music.
Unfortunately there is no turning back of mainstream country music to the more traditional side. This is a fight that has been lost and will now never be won no matter how well a few Chris Stapletons do – there are numerous reasons for this that I do not have the time to get into right now.
Traditional country music now needs to establish its own sub-genre with its own organisation, radio format and awards shows. This way listeners will know what they are getting when they turn on a country show or tune into a country music awards show.
This will solve the problem and the mainstream country juggernaut can just carry on forging its way ahead while providing those disfranchised with it will have an official, properly organized and recognized home to go to. Both camps can then co-exist happily and ignore each other.
One final point I will emphasize is that traditional country music will become a sub-genre. I can not see it ever retaking centre stage and outselling and commercializing mainstream country artists. There will always be exceptions but in general it will be a niche sub-genre. But as long as listeners know what they are getting and where to go to get it, I am happy with that.
June 13, 2017 @ 7:33 am
So called “country music” is no more than popular music from the South. As it always has been. The Nashville machinery seems to have contempt for traditional sounding music as the major record labels historically held contempt for regional “folk” music. They appear to be forcing this stuff down people’s throats to suggest that this “pop” music is the more cvilized sound that consumers should buy.
It was shocking to the early record companies that regional consumers actually wanted to purchase recordings of local music. They should give real artists a try, and see that they’d fare just as well again today.
November 2, 2017 @ 11:43 am
I just heard this song for the first time (because my local country stations is in the boondocks and is *very* slow to add new music), and my first reaction was “when did Taylor return to country music?” Had to google the lyrics to realize it was actually Kelsea.
It’s a nice ’90s pop song, but that’s what ’10s country has become = ’90s pop.