Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good)

In early 2023, Kelsea Ballerini released her *Rolling Up the Welcome Mat* EP, a frank collection of songs she wrote and recorded with collaborator Alysa Vanderheym in the wake of her high-profile divorce. The songs span a number of the complicated feelings wrought by a difficult breakup, like the angry skepticism of “Blindsided” and the knowing regret of “Mountain With a View,” on which Ballerini reflects frankly upon the moment things really fell apart in her marriage. *Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good)* expands upon its predecessor, offering new music as well as revisions of original tracks, like the live “Healed Version” of the heart-wrenching ballad “Penthouse.” The EP’s “Interlude” gets a “Full Length” treatment, while the already cutting “Blindsided” adds the sarcastic parenthetical “(Yeah, Sure, Okay)” to its title, as well as additional lyrics which Ballerini debuted during a performance on *Saturday Night Live*. Closing track “How Do I Do This” is brand new, serving as a cautiously optimistic capstone that especially emphasizes the “For Good” in the updated EP’s title.