Kelsea Ballerini Reveals Whether Her New York City Move Is Permanent
“I’m loving it so much,” Ballerini stated.
Photo Courtesy of Kelsea Ballerini
Kelsea Ballerini may be soaking up life in New York City for now, but she might not be sticking around for too long.
Last month the songstress sparked buzz during An Evening with the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall, where she announced she had made the move to the Big Apple. Ballerini explained it was something she had dreamed about for years.
“Ever since I was a little kid and I got here for the first time, I always promised myself that I would do a season or chapter of life in the city and that season and chapter is right now,” Ballerini told the crowd.
The news came as a surprise to fans, who have followed her various moves from sharing a Nashville penthouse with ex-husband Morgan Evans to the post-divorce home in Tennessee that she purchased from fellow country star Kacey Musgraves. She also spent a good amount of time between L.A. and South Carolina in recent years while dating her now ex-boyfriend, Chase Stokes.
Just as she told the audience at Carnegie Hall, her next chapter finds her spending some time in NYC. The six-time Grammy nominee recently gave an update to E! News about her living situation, revealing that her move to New York is likely not permanent.
“I’m not permanently moving,” Ballerini told the outlet in an interview at the 2026 Fashion Trust U.S. Awards in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 7. “I’m just there through the summer, and I’m loving it so much.”
Since she is still coming off a fresh breakup from Stokes, who also appeared at the L.A. event, Ballerini is enjoying “just discovering” new things in the city and focusing on herself.
“I feel this resurgence of energy just doing stuff for myself,” she admits. “It’s been really nice, and I’m really excited.”
While settling into her new NYC chapter, Ballerini also revealed that a top priority on her list right now is to find the best “spicy rigatoni.”
“That’s my Italian, that’s my heart. I gotta go find it,” she notes.
In another video from the event, Entertainment Tonight asks how she would describe this new chapter of her personal life. Ballerini responds, “I feel so creative and really free right now.”
Coming off her massive headlining tour of 2025 in support of her latest Patterns project, Kelsea Ballerini currently has only two upcoming shows on the books for 2026, including the Barefoot Country Music Festival on June 19.
Additionally, it was announced today that Ballerini has earned her ninth nomination for Female Artist of the Year head of the 61st ACM Awards, set to stream live exclusively on Prime Video for a global audience across more than 240 countries and territories on Sunday, May 17, 2026.
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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