Kelsea Ballerini Releases Dreamy, Rom-Com Inspired Video for “Heartfirst”

When fans see Kelsea Ballerini’s new video for “Heartfirst,” they’ll watch the country singer swoop and fall and even bump through a lush dreamscape that looks as if it came from a fairytale.

In reality, it came from Ballerini. The singer penned the treatment for the elaborate music video, complete with multiple settings, costume changes and puffy heart vibes.

“This is only the second time I’ve written a video treatment, but I just had such a strong visual while writing ’Heartfirst’ that I couldn’t get out of my head,” she said. “I wanted each vignette to represent a different side of the metaphor of chance while maintaining a breezy, whimsyness throughout. We start with a ’90s rom-com run-in, and then we go on a journey of my character’s reaction.”

The video, Ballerini said, is a dreamscape taking the viewer into the world of chance and the blind risk that comes with it. She worked with Patrick Tracy to bring her vision to life and explains Tracy is the creative director for everything for touching “this chapter of music.

“We are really locked in and working so closely,” she said. “It’s logistically a very different video than ’Half Of My Hometown,’ so I just had to trust that when I’m hanging from cables in an all-green room that eventually it would turn into a dramatic leap of faith. And it did! Thankfully.”

“Heartfirst” is the debut single from Ballerini’s forthcoming fourth album, which he recently finished. She debuted the bop in April and told ABC Audio that it sets the tone for the entire project.

“Sonically, that is the direction of the record,” Ballerini said. “So I’m excited to see what people think. I just really wanted to zoom in and find something special and different and finesse it,” she explained of the album she made with prolific songwriters Shane McAnally and Julian Bunetta.

The video was all about finesse, too. So much of Ballerini’s vision was executed in post-production that she wasn’t sure how the clip would turn out until it was complete.

“There was a solid month where I just had my fingers crossed that it would turn out like we had hoped,” she said. “Pat and the special effects team really went above and beyond. It took me somewhere else.”

She just hopes the video inspires her fans to take chances the way she did when she dreamed up “Heartfirst.”

“I’m constantly challenging myself to try different things and push my own boundaries,” she said. “I hope everyone feels that here, and I hope it sparks excitement on what’s to come. This is only the beginning!”