Kelsea Ballerini and her new beau Chase Stokes continued to heat up their romance in New York just hours before she performed on Saturday Night Live. The country music singer, 29, held hands with the Outer Banks star, 30, as they walked around the Big Apple on March 4, as seen in photos here. The sweet stroll came a few days after the pair had finally confirmed their love match.
Rocking a sherpa-lined jacket and ripped jeans, Kelsea looked every inch the country pop princess as she held onto Chase’s arm. The “Peter Pan” songstress kept her signature blonde locks in a tight bun, allowing her natural beauty to take center stage, as she paired the look with designer sunglasses and chic Converse high tops. Her handsome beau balanced his sophisticated look of a wool pea coat with the sensibility of a trucker hat.
Hours later, Kelsea would wear much less onstage at Studio 8-H for her first appearance as musical guest on ‘SNL.’ In a sheer bodysuit, the singer gave a jaw-dropping rendition of her divorce anthem “Blindsided,” which is rumored to be about her 2022 split with her husband of five years, Morgan Evans. Later, she took the stage to belt out a stirring piano-and-vocals rendition of “Penthouse.” Both songs are off her new album Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, which debuted last month.
Meanwhile, the post-divorce relationship between Kelsea and Morgan has been less than amicable. Morgan recently clapped back after Kelsea gave a bombshell interview. “The moment I think it was over over was when I was realizing I wasn’t ready for kids,” Kelsea told Alex Cooper during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Feb. 22. “That’s a fundamental difference. He was like, ‘I don’t want to be an old dad.’ And I’m like…I’m just not there yet. I can’t do this to save us. I can’t do that to myself.”
Morgan hit back on his Instagram, writing, “It’s really sad for me to see this person, who I spent so much of my life with, and loved with all my heart, saying things that aren’t reality and that leave out what really happened.” He added, “If this is what she needs to heal, I hope it helps.”
