Kelsea Ballerini Felt 'Bummed' to Lose Best Country Album at 2024 Grammys but 'Happy' for Lainey Wilson

Wilson won best country album for 'Bell Bottom Country,' while Ballerini received a nomination in the category for 'Rolling Up the Welcome Mat'

Kelsea Ballerini attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California
Kelsea Ballerini. Photo:

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Kelsea Ballerini wants to clarify her feelings toward losing at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

After the 30-year-old singer-songwriter's Rolling Up the Welcome Mat lost best country album to Lainey Wilson's Bell Bottom Country at the annual awards show on Sunday, some viewers felt Ballerini appeared disappointed during the broadcast. The following day, she took to Instagram to set the record straight.

"ohhhh yall. you can be bummed for your loss and happy for somebody else's win at the same time," she wrote in an Instagram Story on Monday. "two things can be true and both hold valid and valuable space."

Kelsea Ballerini Says She Felt 'Bummed' to Lose Best Country Album at 2024 Grammys But 'Happy' for Lainey Wilson
Kelsea Ballerini's Instagram Story.

Kelsea Ballerini/Instagram

Ballerini — a four-time Grammy nominee — then addressed viewers' perception of her reaction. "the face reading and reaction analysis is unnecessary and hurtful to anyone," she added. "a woman's win is a team win. write about that instead?"

Other nominees in the best country album category at the 2024 Grammys included Brothers Osborne and Zach Bryan for their respective self-titled albums and Tyler Childers' Rustin' in the Rain.

While accepting the honor for Bell Bottom Country, Wilson began in her acceptance speech, "This is absolutely wild, y'all. This is my very first Grammy." She then thanked her collaborators, co-writers and "anybody who had anything to do with this record," adding that "it has truly changed my life."

Lainey Wilson wins at the 2024 Grammys
Lainey Wilson.

CBS

"I am from a farming community in northeast Louisiana, a little town of 200 people, and I'm a fifth-generation farmer's daughter, and I would consider myself a farmer too," Wilson continued. "And everybody that I surround myself with, I think they're farmers too, but they're story farmers."

She continued, "And it's about getting up every single day and planting those seeds and watering them and watching them grow. And sometimes when you find the right farming community, you can have a harvest of a lifetime, and I truly believe that and I think that's exactly what this is tonight."

"God bless every single one of y'all," she added. "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you so much to the Recording Academy, and thank you to my fans. I love y'all so much."

Related Articles