Watch Kelsea Ballerini's Cryptic Video That's Keeping Social Media Guessing

Kelsea Ballerini posted a cryptic video on Instagram after she promised the “chaos” of her next chapter would begin on Wednesday (August 7). Hours later, Ballerini shared a sneak peek of an unreleased ballad on TikTok . The 12-second clip features footage from Ballerini’s childhood with her mother. She titled it simply, “sorry mom.”

Ballerini omitted a caption when she shared the first video on Instagram . It offers glimpses of the singer-songwriter in front of flashing cameras and in a bustling city, interspersed with scenes that capture her leaning out the window of a moving car on a country road, strolling along a beach and more. Throughout the video, Ballerini narrates the definition of a “pattern” to her:

“What’s a pattern? It’s like a reoccurring sequence of the first thing you reach for because it’s closest. It’s the first thought you think, or first feeling you feel, or first response you say. (It’s the) first choice you make. It’s like your second nature because it’s what you’ve done over and over and over again. And maybe it’s familial or generational. It’s been handed down. It’s in our blood, or maybe it’s learned and developed from adapting to life. And maybe some of our patterns are just our own damn fault. I think we have the ability to look at our patterns and find the ones that serve us, and then we look at the ones that we don’t want to carry with us and we don’t want to hand down to future us, and you change them. I think that we make patterns so they don’t make us.”

The video quickly garnered comments from Carly Pearce , sister duo Tigirlily Gold , Lily Rose and more than 1,700 eager fans as of publication time. However, Ballerini did not clarify whether “patterns” indicated a song title, an album title or anything else coming up in her next era of music.

Ballerini’s newest teasers arrive shortly after she confirmed on her Instagram story that the “chaos” — after she embraced the “last little bit of calm before the beautiful, fun, magical chaos” — would begin on Wednesday. She also stirred anticipation for her next single on TikTok when she said the title is “something that I have worked into every interview, every conversation, every Instagram ‘ask me anything’ for a while now.”

Most recently, Ballerini released “Cowboys Cry Too,” a duet with Noah Kahan , and “Love Me Like You Mean It,” a reimagined version of her hit single 10 years after its original release. Ballerini has previously shared sneak peeks into her forthcoming chapter in her career, including when she delivered the debut live performance of “ To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak ” on the historic Grand Ole Opry stage. She said at that time that she’s “been singing about a chapter of my life that is far past me now,” referencing her EP and short film, Rolling Up The Welcome Mat , sharing her story of heartbreak and healing after divorce. “And I’m writing about the chapter of life that I’m in, and it looks very different, and I kind of wanted to share a bit of it now. I’m very gently and slowly starting to make the next record. I really want to take the time to handle it with care.”

Ballerini said during an intimate rooftop performance and Q&A hosted by her mom, Carla , in June that she’s “ never handled anything with so much care in my life ,” when speaking about the new record. The project will follow Rolling Up The Welcome Mat and Subject To Change , Ballerini’s latest full-length album that arrived in September 2022.

Though Ballerini has not confirmed a release date as of publication time on Wednesday, the singer-songwriter previously responded to a question on her Instagram story about whether the album would arrive before or after her September 12 birthday. Ballerini responded simply with the constellations that represent Libra and Scorpio signs, seemingly indicating to expect the album sometime between September 23 and November 21.