Late Friday night, country star Kelsea Ballerini finished off a whirlwind day at the CMA Fest in Nashville with a surprise acoustic performance at the festival’s Spotify House stage. Along with her hits “Hole in the Bottle,” “Peter Pan,” and fan favorite “Legends,” the singer played “Heartfirst,” the new single off of her upcoming fifth album, and said it was the first time she had ever gotten to hear a crowd sing the song back to her. 

“I think the last few years, obviously, everyone has gone through a real roller coaster, and I wanted to make a record that felt like you could turn it on and just feel happy and like it’s a warm hug,” she said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “And I feel like ‘Heartfirst’ was a really good representation of that.”

Spotify House is the company’s celebration of country music at the annual festival, and it features acts from the service’s main country playlists, along with late-night sessions with the genre’s biggest stars. After two years on hiatus due to the pandemic, CMA Fest was back, and Spotify took over Nashville’s downtown music venue Ole Red to host stars including Ballerini, Dan + Shay, Mickey Guyton, Russell Dickerson, Ashley McBryde, and Nelly.

Ballerini said that her performance on the Nissan Stadium stage earlier on Friday, in front of tens of thousands of people, would likely be her biggest performance of the year. Afterward, she made a quick change out of the disco-inspired Oscar de la Renta jumpsuit she wore on the stadium stage and into a star-printed bodysuit, a pair of leather shorts, and silver cowboy boots to jump onstage at Spotify House. “Fashion is self-expression,” she said. “And you can really parallel that with the music, and you can have two ways of showing what you’re feeling and experiencing and going through. So it’s always kind of an extension of the music to me.”

Ultimately, she wore four different outfits on Friday, but she was especially excited to put on that glam Westernwear. “My inner girly girl really loves days like that because it’s just a mini fashion show,” she said. “I wear cowboy boots all the time, but I’m glad they happen to be trending now.”

She also explained exactly what is so special about CMA Fest. “It’s really just about getting my head in the game and putting my fan hat on, because I remember going as a kid,” she said. “I remember waiting in line to meet people. I remember being in places and just the energy in the room, wondering who was going to show up, who we were going to see. I was so drawn to that as a kid and as a fan, so to be on this side of it now—I’m excited.”

Her next album is expected later this year, and Ballerini said she was still putting the finishing touches on it. “It’s like the last little bit where it’s still mine,” she said. “So I feel like it’s really precious to me right now, and I’m still listening to it and making the final tweaks and adjustments. It’s that last moment where it’s just for me, and then it won’t be anymore and it’s for everyone else.”

Her background as a fan of country has influenced her music, and she said the new record is inspired by the ’90s queens of country music: Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Trisha Yearwood. She said “Heartfirst” marks the first step into that, noting how she’s happy to have gotten great feedback on a song that represents an evolution for her. 

“One of the things I was able to do with my last few years is write poetry. I wrote a book, and I think that really opened and unlocked a part of myself as a writer that I haven’t explored fully until that project,” she said. “I tapped even further into that for this album, and I’m really really proud of the lyrics and the storytelling. Even the fun songs! It’s a really fun record. Even those have more depth than the things I’ve put out before.”