Fans Think Kelsea Ballerini’s New Song Is About Madelyn Cline

Kelsea Ballerini dropped her latest album, Mount Pleasant, on Nov. 14, and fans already have theories about the meaning behind her new music. In particular, Ballerini’s song “Emerald City” is getting a lot of attention online — and listeners are convinced that the track was written about Chase Stokes’ ex, Madelyn Cline. Adding even more fuel to the theory, both Ballerini and Stokes have since alluded to what the track is about.

In the song, Ballerini sings about feeling envious about a partner’s ex — an unnamed woman who has brown eyes, like Cline. “Always liked the color of my eyes ’til I knew she had brown / I’m green,” Ballerini sings in the first verse.

Later, in the bridge of the song, she admits to feeling conflicted about her own self-doubt: “I’m just a girl, kinda jealous, kinda insecure / And I hate how (I hate how) it takes me / Down an old road where she used to be yours.” In the last chorus, she asks for reassurance from her significant other, “If I got you, then baby, kiss me (Kiss me) / Tell me that you think I’m so damn pretty / Double down that you’ll end up with me.”

On TikTok and X (formerly called Twitter), fans think that Ballerini wrote the song about Cline, who met Stokes while working on Outer Banks and dated him for over a year before they split in 2021.

Ballerini explained the meaning behind “Emerald City” at a live show that was posted to TikTok on Nov. 17. “The thing about this song is, I think you should always be jealous for the people that you love. Jealous for their time, jealous for their attention. But you should never be jealous of. Sometimes life just gets in the way of that, and it’s OK to feel it, and it’s OK to say it out loud,” Ballerini said. “I wrote this song about a really real feeling, and I did not write this song for the internet, and I did not write this song to put down anyone.”

That same day, Stokes left a heated comment on Ballerini’s social media. Under Ballerini’s TikTok promoting her new music, Stokes called out all the chatter he’d been seeing. “These comments are f*cking weird,” Stokes wrote. “Grow up.”

Stokes and Ballerini got together in December 2022, and they dated for nearly three years before confirming their breakup in September. The split did not last — the duo reportedly rekindled their romance in November, a few weeks after Stokes and Cline were spotted filming Outer Banks together in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Although fans think Cline could be the muse for “Emerald City,” Ballerini has previously dispelled rumors about any tension between her and the actor. “I met her and I talked to her and she’s lovely and I think she’s wildly talented,” Ballerini said during a November 2023 appearance on Call Her Daddy. “I think the internet did its best to make it really weird, and it just didn’t work for them. I’m stoked to be on set and vibe with everyone.”

“I think [Stokes and Cline] have a beautiful working relationship and I’m excited to hang with her,” she added at the time. “People want drama, they don’t want consistency and happiness. … I don’t feel insecure with my relationship and I don’t feel insecure about myself.”