The Lyrics and Meaning Behind Kelsea Ballerini’s ‘Just Married’
On Feb. 14, country artist Kelsea Ballerini released a vulnerable EP titled Rolling Up the Welcome Mat. The singer also released a short film of the same name to go along with the EP. “Just Married” is the second song on the Rolling Up the Welcome Mat tracklist and the second chapter of the album’s short film. Here’s a look at the meaning behind Ballerini’s song “Just Married.”
Kelsea Ballerini’s song ‘Just Married’ has a double meaning
With Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, Ballerini looks back at the dissolution of her marriage to Australian country singer Morgan Evans and their subsequent divorce.
The song “Just Married” is the second song on Rolling Up the Welcome Mat where it directly follows the song “Mountain With a View.” In “Mountain With a View,” Ballerini realizes that her marriage is over.
In “Just Married,” the phrase “just married” has a double meaning. During verses, Ballerini uses the phrase to relfect on her marriage in a more positive light. However, during the song’s choruses, the singer uses “just married” in a negative sense.
“I don’t think I lied when I said I wanted that life/ Maybe I was too young to understand what I wanted to begin with/ But babe, it was true, with all that I knew/ It felt like forever, that December Two/ A fairytale start, crossing our hearts/ Rode off in a car that said, ‘Just Married,'” Ballerini sings in the first verse of “Just Married.”
In the first chorus, Ballerini then sings, “But I wasn’t made for fixing a plate or keeping our problems buried/ I wasn’t strong enough to keep on with all of the weight that I carried/ Yeah, it was love/ Then it was just married.”
Kelsea Ballerini wrote the song ‘Just Married’
On Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, Ballerini is the sole songwriter on three songs: “Mountain With a View,” “Just Married,” and “Leave Me Again.” She is a co-writer on “Penthouse,” “Interlude,” and “Blindsided.” The complete tracklist for Rolling Up the Welcome Mat can be viewed below.
Rolling Up the Welcome Mat tracklist:
- “Mountain With a View”
- “Just Married”
- “Penthouse”
- “Interlude”
- “Blindsided”
- “Leave Me Again”
In the short film for Rolling Up the Welcome Mat, Ballerini is in the kitchen washing dishes while a man continuously brings her plates.
Kelsea Ballerini and Morgan Evans divorced in 2022
Ballerini and Evans married in 2017. In August 2022, Ballerini revealed that the two had separated. Their divorce was later finalized in November 2022.
In a statement to People Magazine, Ballerini revealed her reasoning for releasing Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
“These are six songs I wish I had last year. It’s about the complexities of the feelings you go through during a massive shift at a young age. Rolling Up the Welcome Mat was how I processed everything. It’s the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music — which is the purest way I could’ve handled it,” the singer said.
