Shutting it down.
Sunday night, Kelsea Ballerini played a show at Florida’s Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, and she didn’t hesitate to call out the fans in the crowd during “Penthouse.”
Of course, Kelsea went through a very public divorce from fellow country singer Morgan Evans in 2022, and subsequently released her Rolling Up The Welcome Mat EP, which aired out a lot of their dirty laundry, so to speak, in terms of the bad parts of their relationship and her reasons for wanting a divorce.
Particularly, the song “Penthouse” detailed a lot their issues and her feelings on moving on, and it quickly became a fan-favorite… fans especially love screaming the “you got half” line at her live shows, and honestly, I can see why… that’s a slay. Though, I’m really not a fan of either Kelsea or Morgan and have no skin in the game in terms of “sides” in the divorce:
“It hurts putting sh*t in a box
And now we don’t talk
And it stings rolling up the welcome mat
Knowing you got half”
Both parties have moved on, and Kelsea has been in a relationship with Outer Banks star Chase Stokes for a while now, and they’re often seen together at industry events.
So after fans screamed that “you got half” line at her concert last night, Kelsea was clearly frustrated, and stopped while performing the song to tell the fans they basically needed to move on…
“Guys, we have to stop saying that. Seriously, we’re three years past it, everything’s fine now, I sing the song for you now, it’s not about me anymore, please. Alright, for everyone that’s moving forward with their life, will you sing this with me?”
Here’s the viral video:
@carlyrsilverman Update: I didn’t even hear what she was talking about until the comments! Good for her! #kelseaballerini #kelseaballeriniconcert #kelseaballerinitok #kelseaballerinipenthouse #penthouse #kelseaballerinilive ♬ original sound – Carly Silverman
Damn… she’s not playing around.
In the comments, some alluded to the fact that a fan yelled “F U Morgan,” saying that it has become a trend during that song at her concerts to do so. I couldn’t hear it, but I feel like that would make sense in terms of her reaction:
“Y’all it’s not about the ‘you got half.’ People are screaming ‘F U Morgan’ and she’s over it. She’s even reposted videos of people telling others to not do that.”
“For everyone who doesn’t know- people say ‘F You Morgan’ during the pause. She has asked multiple times for people to stop. She is healed and wants to move on.”
“She divorced him because she couldn’t handle being a wife, made the narcissistic album/vids about the divorce & now she gets mad cuz ppl still talk about it….she wanted the dramatics, she got it.”
“So classy of her to call someone out she’s over it.”
“Idk. currently not a fan of this take?”
“This is actually not it. She could say she’s moved on and it doesn’t hurt anymore but if you relate to it if you haven’t moved on YELL it anyways.”
“We love a respectful queen!”
“I totally get she is over it, but the songs on that album could be refuge to a woman going through that situation currently. Maybe that’s why people scream it. It’s for them not Kelsea it’s for them.”
“She’s going to change the set and take this out guys and then I’ll be soooo sad.”
“Someone said it RIGHT in front of me at the Tampa show and I was soooo upset. Honestly ruined my video of it.”
“People forget that was her husband.. for multiple years. You can still respect someone even though you got a divorce and she’s doing exactly that.”
“I was there! She called them out! Girl is over it.”
“I was right there next to the person screaming with my daughter. So disappointed that people can’t just move on.”
“I didn’t hear them say it, but when she said to get over it, I felt like I was getting reprimanded and I was nowhere near there.”
“Y’all are gonna get ‘Penthouse’ taken off the set list.”
Honestly, good for her… sometimes fans can just take things too far, and I think her doing this in such a nice, but firm, way is a better alternative than just taking it off the set list altogether since so many love it. When she put out he EP several years ago, she was obviously in a very different place and probably enjoyed that her fans were so adamantly on her side. Here and Morgan also took turns airing out some dirty laundry on podcasts, and via song, and fans were definitely taking sides back then.
I mean, she’s human… but it’s clear she’s healed from it, and so has he, and yelling that kind of thing when there’s so many young girls at her show it just unnecessary and rude. If you’re a Kelsea fan who loves this song and want to hear it live in concert… consider yourself warned.
Kelsea also put out “Penthouse (Healed Version)” in 2023, where she changes some of the lyrics giving it a very new perspective. You can listen to both below.
“Penthouse (Healed Version)”
“Penthouse”
