Getty Musicians Kelsea Ballerini (L) and Halsey pose at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards which broadcast live on Turner's TBS, TNT, and truTV at The Forum on March 5, 2017 in Inglewood, California.
Musicians Kelsea Ballerini and Halsey are appearing together on a new episode of CMT Crossroads. The two have been friends for years and have been photographed together, but they are not sisters.
During the March 25, 2020 episode of CMT Crossroads, Halsey and Ballerini perform “The Other Girl,” which tells the story of jealousy and infidelity, questioning which of the women have been betrayed by their cheating partner. It questions which of the women is “the other girl.”
At the end of the song, the two parts settle on a message of solidarity rather than hatred or jealousy. The song appears on Ballerini’s third studio album, Kelsea, which was released on March 20, 2020.
Read on to learn more about the song and performance.
Ballerini and Halsey Discussed “The Other Girl” on Instagram
When the album was released, Halsey and Ballerini went live on Instagram to talk about the message in “The Other Girl.”
“There’s so much music, and I’m partially responsible for this, but there’s so much music in the world about cheating partners,” Halsey said. “People wanna pin it on the other girl, and make it the other girl’s fault, so it was so cool for us to be coming together and being like, ‘You know what? Forget him. We’re not gonna hate each other.'”
Ballerini echoed the sentiment, saying that it’s great to see two women who could compete with one another instead decide to come together. She said the song is about showing that people can want all the things in the world but still support each other to get there.
They also performed Halsey’s “Graveyard” together during the CMT Crossroads set.
Ballerini posted on Instagram to announce the performance and praise Halsey. She wrote, “she’s a true songwriter, a true musician, and a true friend. last night was so incredibly special and I can’t wait to share it all with you when our crossroad airs. @iamhalsey you’re magic. let’s do this more?”
Ballerini Only Featured Friends on Her Self-Titled Album
In an interview with Taste of Country Nights, Ballerini said that her two collaborations on her self-titled album were important to her. She said she had a very particular way of choosing which artists would be featured alongside her.
“On this album, I was like, ‘I only want collaborations if they’re my friends,” she said. “Like, I don’t want to go to some pop star that I don’t know, I don’t wanna go to some country person that I just want their people to listen to me. I just wanna do it if it makes sense to me.”
She explained that she’d met Halsey in Nashville in the summer of 2018 when Halsey was playing Ascend. She went backstage after the performance, and the two instantly clicked. That night, they went to Santa’s pub and did karaoke together, later ending back at Ballerini’s place where Halsey played her the first cut of her now-hit song “Without Me.”
Later, Ballerini returned the favor, playing Halsey the first cut of “The Other Girl” and asking her to duet with the country singer on it. Halsey agreed, and the song made it onto Ballerini’s Kelsea.
Tune in to CMT Crossroads at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CMT to see interviews and performances from the musicians.
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