• Source: Patterns (Kelsea Ballerini album)

Patterns is the fifth studio album by American country pop artist Kelsea Ballerini. The album was released on October 25, 2024, through Black River Entertainment. Ballerini co-produced the album along with Alysa Vanderheym. "Cowboys Cry Too" was released as its first single on June 28, 2024. Three other songs were put out as promotional singles: "Sorry Mom", "Two Things", and "First Rodeo".




Content


Ballerini opted for an all-girl approach to Patterns, as she co-wrote and co-produced all 15 tracks on the album with Alysa Vanderheym, with additional writing on several songs from Jessie Jo Dillon, Karen Fairchild, and Hillary Lindsey. She said the process happened "organically" following a songwriting retreat with her female collaborators, birthing an album "made from womanhood and sisterhood".
The follow-up to the Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP (2023) that documented the end of her marriage, Ballerini described Patterns as a "super autobiographical" album, taking the listener on a journey when listened from top-to-bottom. She highlighted that the album is "not a love record", saying: "I think the whole record takes you through a very real journey of people that come together that have relational history and public relational history and different upbringings and different family dynamics and all these things, and you come together as adults and you have lives to sort through to be able to build one together. And to me, that is the most appealing part of love, sorting through all that and finding those dynamics that you're able to undo those patterns together. And I think it's a love record. It's just probably not what people are expecting".
Ballerini credited boyfriend Chase Stokes as being present during the entire creation process for Patterns, and the inspiration for the song "How Much Do You Love Me?" which she declared the "softest song" on the record. She referred to "Beg for Your Love" as the record's most vulnerable moment and the next step following "Leave Me Again", the closing track on Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
On October 28, 2024, Ballerini released an exclusive digital download of Patterns through her official website that included two bonus tracks, a stripped acoustic version of "Two Things" and "To the Men That Love Women After Heartbreak".




Critical reception


Rolling Stone writer Jon Dolan gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, speaking favorably of the album's "characteristically varied collection that finds her looking inward with honesty and resolve, staying strong without sounding too heavy about it". Jof Owen with Holler rated the album a nine out of 10, declaring it a "country pop grand slam" and favorably comparing it to Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department and Kacey Musgraves' Star-Crossed, while stating that Ballerini's "recovery technique feels more straightforwardly out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new. There's a new bed for her boots to go under, and she doesn't spend a lot of time reminiscing over what went on between the sheets of the old one she used to sleep in".




Chart performance


Patterns debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, marking her highest-charting album to date, and second top 10 entry following Unapologetically (2017). It also debuted atop the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, Ballerini's first album to reach number one on the chart. It arrived with 54,000 equivalent album units earned — her best week by units.




Singles


The album includes a collaboration with Noah Kahan on "Cowboys Cry Too", which was released as the lead single on June 28, 2024. "Sorry Mom", "Two Things", and "First Rodeo" were all issued as promotional singles ahead of the album release, and all were accompanied by the release of music videos.




Promotion


Ballerini celebrated the album release with a headlining show at Madison Square Garden on October 29, 2024, and is set to embark on her first headlining arena tour in January 2025.




Track listing






Personnel


Musicians

Technical

Visuals

P Tracy – art direction, design, packaging
Ashley Kohorst – art production
MC Demetriades – art production
Nyk Allen – photography
Kelsey Deenihan – hair and makeup
Brittany Leslie – hair and makeup assistance
Danielle Priano – hair
Rob Zangardi – styling
Mariel Haenn – styling
Jill Petry – styling assistance




Charts






References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Patterns (Kelsea Ballerini album)
• Kelsea Ballerini
• Kelsea Ballerini discography
• Cowboys Cry Too
• Unapologetically
• Rolling Up the Welcome Mat
• Pattern (disambiguation)
• Love Me Like You Mean It
• 2024 in country music
• List of Top Country Albums number ones of 2024