Ballerini dazzles fans with serious sparkle
Kelsea Ballerini brought a welcome jolt of electric youth, and serious sparkle, to RodeoHouston.
She looked more pop princess than country queen in a cropped denim jacket, shiny black hot pants and glittering ankle boots. Her blond hair cascaded down her back in a long ponytail.
“So this is what 70,000 people looks like, yeah?” Ballerini asked the crowd. Saturday’s show actually drew 60,713 paid attendance.
“I was the most nervous I have ever been backstage.”
Ballerini, 24, has earned comparisons to Taylor Swift. It’s apparent in the blurred genre lines and intense connection with a young female fanbase. She’s earned a string of big radio hits — “Legends,” “Dibs,” “Peter Pan” — that had much of the crowd singing along.
Ballerini, however, is a more aggressive and accessible live performer. Where Swift sometimes seems like a pristine goddess on a mountaintop, Ballerini comes off like the popular girl in a highschool comedy who gets along with everyone.
Ballerini’s tunes also feel influenced by Texas natives Kelly Clarkson and Demi Lovato.
There was some slight twang in kickoff tune “Love Me Like You Mean It.” But much of her set wouldn’t sound out of place on Top 40 radio: the pop bombast of “Miss Me More,” the slick balladry of “Get Over Yourself,” which interpolated bits of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River.”
Vocally, Ballerini never overshot or pushed past her limits.