''Rolling Up the Welcome Mat'' is the second

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by American

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

singer

Kelsea Ballerini Kelsea Nicole Ballerini (born September 12, 1993) is an American country pop singer. She began songwriting as a child and signed with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album the following year, '' The First Time''. ...

. It was released on February 14, 2023, by

Black River Entertainment Black River Entertainment is an independent record label in Nashville, Tennessee, specializing in country music. The company is a partially owned subsidiary of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which otherwise specializes primarily in professiona ...

. Accompanied by a short film of the same name, the project was nominated for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

at the 57th Annual CMA Awards and

Best Country Album The Grammy Award for Best Country Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the country music genre. Honors in ...

at the

66th Annual Grammy Awards The 66th Annual Grammy Awards are an upcoming music awards ceremony which recognizes the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year (from October 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023) as determined by the members of National Acad ...

. On August 1, 2023, Ballerini announced that she was releasing an extended version of the EP titled ''Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good)'' on August 11, 2023.

Background

In March 2016, Ballerini began dating Australian country singer Morgan Evans, and the two were married in 2017. On August 29, 2022, Ballerini announced that she and Evans were divorcing. On November 3, 2022, it was revealed that Ballerini and Evans had reached a settlement agreement and their divorce was finalized on November 15, 2022. On February 13, 2023, Ballerini announced through her social media that she would be releasing ''Rolling Up the Welcome Mat'' as a

surprise release A surprise album or surprise release refers to the release of an album with little or no prior announcement, marketing or promotion. The strategy contrasts traditional album releases, which typically feature weeks or months of advertising in the f ...

that night, coinciding with

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

. It was described by the singer on her social media:

Reception

Chris Willman of ''Variety'' found the choice of making an album about her divorce "unexpectedly savvy" as a "parcel all that pain into a dam-burster of a side project with no commercial expectations, no press and no holds barred". Willman wrote that even if it was a "volume of historical annotation", the songs did not "always feel so strictly autobiographical that they lack for cleverness", with "very little

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

sounds singularly country genre". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the lyrics as "a number of intimate details of their union, along with a rolling series of self-insights" not finding them, however, "intense". Erlewine wrote that the album "offers clean, uncluttered comfort" not in line with his conception in "a place of pain", as her divorce was. The album was named the 98th best album of 2023 by ''Rolling Stone'', prizing the "clear narrative" of the tracks, producing a "succinct post-divorce diary, leveling up her songwriting in the process on brutal confessionals".

Year-end rankings

Film

The release of the EP was accompanied by a 20-minute short film acting as a

visual album A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the EP, written by Ballerini and co-directed by Patrick Tracy. The film portrays a woman, played by Ballerini, going through the stages of grief and acceptance to the end of a marriage and an impending divorce.

Promotion

On March 4, 2023, Ballerini sang "Blindsided" and "Penthouse" on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

.''

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

(all tracks), background vocals (tracks 1–5) * Alysa Vanderheym – production,

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

, (all tracks), programming (1–5), background vocals (1, 5),

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

(4, 6) * Andrew Mendelson – mastering *

Dan Grech-Marguerat Daniel James Grech-Marguerat, also known as Dan Grech, (born 11 July 1981 in Bedford), is an English / Maltese recording engineer, record producer and mixer. His production style pulls together a blend of alternative and pop genres. He is recogn ...

– mixing * Mike Stankiewicz – engineering (1–3, 5) * Zach Kuhlman – engineering assistance (1–3, 5) * Andrew Darby – mastering assistance * Jacob Friga – mastering assistance * Luke Armentrout – mastering assistance * Taylor Chadwick – mastering assistance * Charles Haydon Hicks – mixing assistance * Luke Burgoyne – mixing assistance

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control Kelsea Ballerini albums Black River Entertainment albums 2023 EPs