Kelsea Ballerini’s Next Single Will Be a Left Turn From ‘Half of My Hometown': ‘It’s a Bop’

Kelsea Ballerini is still riding the high from her latest No. 1 hit at country radio, a duet with Kenny Chesney called "Half of My Hometown." It's her seventh chart-topping hit, and the singer recently shared that it's her favorite of them all, because it speaks so personally to the complicated feelings she has about loving — and leaving — her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.

But on the red carpet before the 2022 Grammy Awards on Sunday night (April 3), Ballerini was looking ahead to what's next: She told Laverne Cox, for E! News Online, that she's switching things up for her next submission to country radio, which comes out on Thursday (April 7).

"[Half of My Hometown] was, like, very songwriter, about my hometown, ballad. This one is the other side," the singer shares. "It's, like, a bop: Breezy, windows down, go for a drive, get right."

On Twitter, Ballerini recently teased her new song, "Heartfirst," with an image of a dreamy blue background, the song's title and her name stylized in the shape of a heart in the center. According to the teaser image, she co-wrote the song with Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild and songwriter Alysa Vanderheym.

At the Grammys, Ballerini presented the award for Best Country Album with actor Anthony Mackie, who's also her co-host at the upcoming CMT Music Awards.