SUBJECT TO CHANGE by Kelsea Ballerini: Too Perfectly Packaged to Feel Personal

The title track of Kelsea Ballerini’s fourth album SUBJECT TO CHANGE (released September 23, 2022) has a great lyric: “If one thing’s the same/It’s that I’m subject to change.” For me, if one thing’s the same, it’s that I love Kelsea’s music. I have been a massive fan of Kelsea since I was in 6th grade, and five years later, I still listen to her all the time. Her music was what first made me fall in love with country-pop music, confessional songwriting – and honestly, music in general.

Another thing about me you should know is that I’m a big fan of albums. When I find a song or artist that I like, I typically go listen to the entire album, because that’s where the entire story is. The lyrical story and theme of an entire album to me is really important, and it’s something Kelsea has done really well in the past. So, I was really excited to see the overall theme and story of SUBJECT TO CHANGE. 

With that being said, I was nervous for this release. Right off the bat, I wasn’t a fan of the lead single “HEARTFIRST.” I found it to be a very surface-level song about meeting a guy at a party, and it didn’t tell the story in a very engaging manner. 

Additionally, On the brink of her album release, Kelsea announced her split with her husband, Morgan Evans - a fellow country star. Frankly, this made me even more perplexed about SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Many of the songs don’t sound like they were coming from someone going through a divorce - but we’ll touch on that more later. Overall, I was not impressed by the lyrical theme of SUBJECT TO CHANGE. I didn’t feel like I was hearing an authentic representation of the change in Kelsea’s life, which was what I was hoping for. 

Before I talk more about the lyrical theme of the album, though, I want to talk about the songs that I loved.

In my breakdown of this album, I want to focus on the lyrics and the story of the album. Therefore, I’m not going to talk about the “sound” of the album. I will say, though, it’s probably her countriest-sounding album yet and reflects a 90s-female-country sound. Still, there are  plenty of “pop” moments throughout the album. 

 

SUBJECT TO CHANGE: The Highlights

On SUBJECT TO CHANGE, I have a clear favorite track: “MARILYN.” Kelsea has said on multiple occasions that she has one solo-written song on each album, and these songs on her three previous albums are some of the most authentic, beautiful songs I’ve ever heard (“Secondhand Smoke,” “High School,” and “la”). “MARILYN” was the solo-write for this album.

I'm not sure why she insists on only one solo-written song. I find it frustrating, because her solo songs are the best. She has a lot co-writers on SUBJECT TO CHANGE, and I think this often takes away from what she does best: her personal and confessional writing.

 Anyways, I’m grateful that we got “MARILYN,” because it’s a beautiful song. Kelsea writes it from her own perspective, and she’s asking Marilyn Monroe a bunch of questions: “Did you miss Norma Jean/Or did you always wanna be/Marilyn.” This song works so well because we hear Kelsea contemplating fame and insecurities from an outside perspective, but clearly reflecting on herself. The chorus begins with, “Was it worth it to seem so perfect?/Blonde and curves didn’t keep you from your skeletons.” I think the strongest lyric in the song is “‘Cause I can see how it seemed/Through an LA silver screen/But I can also see how it’d drive me to pills.” This lyric sums up the way Kelsea is relating to Marilyn. Even though the song is all about Marilyn, it is also entirely about Kelsea. The song ends with a chilling sound clip of Marilyn Monroe answering an interview question, so absolutely listen to the song to hear that.

“DOIN’ MY BEST” is another standout track. The verses are line-for-line confessions and my jaw dropped hearing them for the first time. Kelsea references her 2020 album kelsea dropping the week quarantine began (I remember how crazy this was!), her apparent falling out with the “popstar she put on track four” (Halsey), her starting “therapy for two,” and a few other things. It’s just an overall fun song as well: “And I think that showin’ up is good enough for me.” 

“WHAT I HAVE” is another favorite of mine. It’s all about being content with what you have in the moment: “Plenty to want/Nothing wrong with that/But I’m happy with what I have.” Kelsea has always done a great job exploring feelings of insecurity and inferiority (see songs like “la” and “overshare,” and her poetry book, Feel Your Way Through). “WHAT I HAVE” takes on these emotions with gratitude, and it’s a song that makes me emotional when I hear it. It’s beautifully honest.

The Confusing Parts of SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Thematically, SUBJECT TO CHANGE is…confusing. I suppose it matches its title, but I’m bothered by the scattered lyrical story. Like I said, the overall story of an album is really important to me. Based on the title, I was hoping for an album that explores change and all of the emotions that come with it. Instead, the album was just about a bunch of seemingly unrelated things.  We get a song like “HEARTFIRST” about meeting a guy at a party as the lead single, a song called “UNIVERSE” that is arguably Kelsea’s most romantic love song yet, and then songs like “I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN’” and “WEATHER” that are pretty clearly about Kelsea’s marriage falling apart (I LOVE those two songs).  So, we are seeing a change between in-love and divorced, but there’s not really anything showing how that change happened or the emotions behind it. 

There are also the odd ball tracks like “SUBJECT TO CHANGE,” “WALK IN THE PARK,” and “I CAN’T HELP MYSELF” that feel like Kelsea trying to make herself seem “subject to change” and spontaneous.  

There are also a few too many metaphors on these songs: “Sometimes I’m a summer day/Sometimes I start raining/Always one season away/From everything changing” (from “WALK IN THE PARK). These songs have grown on me since I first heard them, but they don’t make me feel like I’m getting to know anything more about Kelsea. If you listen to them, you’ll know what I mean: they are too perfectly packaged to feel personal.

There were also a couple obvious attempts at a 90s-female-country inspired jam. “IF YOU GO DOWN (I’M GOING DOWN TOO),” an anthem about Kelsea’s friendships, just feels surface-level to me. I’ve seen that a lot of people really like this song, and if you simply see it as a fun song it works really well. Maybe it’s just because of my valuing lyrical depth over anything else, but this song just doesn’t make me think, “wow, Kelsea has some really strong friendships.” 

One of my very favorite Kelsea songs is called “love me like a girl” from her album kelsea. It’s about how she wishes her male partner could understand her in the way her female friends do. Even though this song isn’t really about her friends, it reveals so much more about how she feels about her friendships than “IF YOU GO DOWN (I’M GOING DOWN TO).”

“YOU’RE DRUNK, GO HOME” with Carly Pearce and Kelly Clarkson is a fun song, but boring lyrically. This surprises me, since many of Kelsea’s past fun, super-country songs such as “hole in the bottle” manage to be both fun and lyrically interesting. “YOU’RE DRUNK, GO HOME” just wasn’t that to me. I also think having Carly and Kelly on it was a little too much; they each sing, like, two lines.

Because of all this, it’s difficult for me to summarize the lyrical story of the album. The album is all over the place, and it’s more confusing than interesting. It’s about change, but doesn’t dive into the actual emotions and experiences of change in the way I hoped for.

Final Thoughts

My overall issue with SUBJECT TO CHANGE is that it feels like it has one foot in authenticity - not two. Some of my favorite Kelsea tracks of all time are on this album, and also some of my least favorites - and it's a clean divide between authentic tracks and forced.  For example, I found it confusing as to why Kelsea, who has a song called “I Hate Love Songs,” released an album full of cliche love songs in the midst of her divorce.

Listening to this album, I get the impression that Kelsea sat down and said, “I want to write an album about how ‘subject to change’ I am,” instead of just letting the songs she writes portray that message on their own.

 So, SUBJECT TO CHANGE has some high highs and some low lows. In the best songs, Kelsea taps into her personal emotions, insecurities, and experiences. The worst songs feel confusing, unauthentic, and like they’re trying too hard to paint Kelsea as someone “subject to change.”

It’s now been a few weeks since the album came out, and I’ve only found myself returning to a few of the songs. The album as a whole doesn’t have an interesting enough lyrical story to consistently draw me back to it. Because of that, I don’t think that you need to listen to SUBJECT TO CHANGE as a full album. Instead, I would encourage you to listen to my three favorites: “MARILYN,” “WHAT I HAVE,” and “DOIN’ MY BEST.” 

Don’t get me wrong: I still love Kelsea and I really think you should listen to her previous music if you haven’t already (“Stilettos,” “In Between,” and “Get Over Yourself” are some of my favorites!). Because of my deep love for her music, I’m disappointed to find SUBJECT TO CHANGE to be her weakest album yet. But, I’m still hopeful for the future of her music and will always be a fan, even if SUBJECT TO CHANGE wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. 

Written by Peyton Price