Last time Kelsea Ballerini took part in Elle‘s “Song Association” challenge, she scored a nine out of 15. On Wednesday (Feb. 26), she was back for “redemption” — and she didn’t disappoint.
With 10 seconds to think of and sing a lyric featuring a key word, Ballerini started off this 20-round game strong by associating the word “cheap” with a lyric from her own song, “Club,” and singing the word “baby” to Justin Bieber’s song of the same name.
However, when she got to “heart,” she was totally stumped. “I missed heart and I know heart’s in, like, every song.”
She went back to her Belieber ways to associate “never” with “Never Say Never,” but following it up with “What If I Never Get Over You” by Lady Antebellum. Ballerini then breezed through Nick Jonas and Tove Lo’s “Close” for the word “close,” Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” for “games,” her own “Homecoming Queen” for both “home” and “skin,” Britney Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy” for “crazy,” Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me” for “lose,” Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” for “friends,” and more.
The country songstress also chatted a bit about her upcoming self-titled album, which is set to drop on March 20. “The album is called Kelsea, which is obviously my name,” she explained. “I’ve never done a self-titled album before, and I think Kelsea feels personal when you don’t add in the last name. The album is that. It’s been a really self-discovery few years. “
She also noted that she teamed up with Ed Sheeran for a song called “Love and Hate,” which includes the heartbreaking lyrics, “The day that you lied/ I felt it all change/ I crossed that thin, thin line between love and hate.”
Ballerini’s final “Song Association” score was an 18 out of 20, a vast improvement from her first round. Watch the whole clip below.
