Kelsea Ballerini Explains How Boyfriend Chase Stokes Supported Her in Writing Her New Album: ’Really Proud’ (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kelsea Ballerini; her boyfriend Chase Stokes.Photo:Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Jeff Hahne/Getty

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Jeff Hahne/Getty

This isn’tKelsea Ballerini’s first rodeo — but it’s her first time making an album while datingOuter BanksandUgliesactorChase Stokes!

The country singer, 31, revealed to PEOPLE how Stokes, 32, supported her upcoming fifth album,Patterns, during theGlamourWomen of the Year Awardson Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the Paradise Club in New York City.

“He’s been such a big, beautiful part of my life for almost two years now,” began Ballerini, who started dating Stokes in early 2023 aftershe slid into his DMsand “just swan dove right on in” in December 2022.

“I’m really proud of the art that he’s inspired,” she continued. “And I’m really proud to be with someone who’s a truth-teller in his own art too. And to be aligned in that way and to share parts of our relationship and that kind of stuff, so openly and willingly, is really beautiful.”

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the People’s Choice Country Awards on Sept. 26, 2024.Terry Wyatt/Getty

Terry Wyatt/Getty

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Stokes also recently supported his girlfriendat the People’s Choice Country Awards, where she performed“Two Things”from her new album.

Ballerini previously shared with PEOPLEhow Stokes helped ease her nervesfor her recent acting debut in the new ABC medical dramaDoctor Odyssey.

“I’ve always called acting his world, and so whenever I was asking him questions about this opportunity, I was like, ‘What about this in your world?’ And he was like, ‘Hey, it’s just a world. I’m a part of it and now you’re a part of it. It’s not my world,’ ” she recalled. “By the end of the conversation, I was like, ‘Okay, so you’ll run the scene with me?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ ”

Kelsea Ballerini on Oct. 8, 2024.Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

The couple recently had a health scare with Dibs, one of their two dogs. Ballerini announced in August that Dibs was diagnosed with “inoperable cancer in his heart.” Ballerini has been a dog mom to Dibs for more than nine years, while Stokes adopted Milo in 2020.

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In September, Stokes updated PEOPLE on how they’re handling Dibs.

Ballerini’s new albumPatternswill be released on Oct. 25.

source: people.com