Kelsea Ballerini Announces Surprise EP + Short Film, ‘Rolling Up the Welcome Mat’

Just shy of five months after releasing her Subject to Change album in fall 2022, Kelsea Ballerini is back with more new music. On Monday (Feb. 13), she announced that she's releasing an EP called Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, and a short film to go along with it.

Fans won't have to wait long for the next batch of songs from Ballerini: Rolling Up the Welcome Mat will drop at midnight, just hours after she announced its release. She shared the news on social media, describing her upcoming project as "the six song story."

As fans may have guessed from that tweet, the new EP features six tracks. Though all of them are brand new, at least one should sound a little bit familiar to listeners: "Penthouse" is one song that Ballerini has been teasing on social media here and there in recent months.

When she announced her new music, the singer also teased a little snippet of the forthcoming short film that will accompany her Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP. The teaser finds Ballerini in a stark, luxurious hotel setting, taking a dip in the pool and drawing the blinds closed in a room at night.

Ballerini went through a divorce from fellow country artist Morgan Evans within the past few months, and some of the tidbits of information the singer has shared about her next project suggest that divorce and heartbreak could be themes on the new EP. In one shot from the short film, she is lying in bed next to someone, before turning away. Another features a close-up of her left hand, which bears a ring.

"It's 7AM and I'm on a mountain with a view," Ballerini sings in the teaser. "I'm the only one at a table meant for two."

Those lines likely come from the first track on Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which is titled "Mountain With a View." The other titles on the album are "Just Married," "Penthouse," "Interlude," "Blindsided" and "Leave Me Again."

The EP is available to pre-save now. It'll arrive at midnight on 12AM on Tuesday (Feb. 14).