With songs connected to her past, Kelsea Ballerini is ‘deeply happy’ to be looking to her future

Kelsea Ballerini is ready to take on a new decade.

In just one month, the "Penthouse" singer will celebrate her milestone 30th birthday, and she's launching into her last hurrah of being 29 by rocking the TODAY Plaza.

“This feels like a good way to kick off the last month in my 20s,” she says on TODAY after performing her hit song “Penthouse” in front of an audience of screaming fans. “It feels good.”

For the Citi Concert Series, Ballerini gave a very raw performance of “Penthouse,” “Heartfirst” and “Blindsided" in a summery blue outfit with ruffled sleeves.

Once she stepped on stage, Ballerini took the mic and started playing with the fabric on her top.

"I feel like I look like a pirate," she joked.

However, the audience completely disagreed. As soon as Ballerini stepped outside, they were enticed by every move she made, especially when she performed “Blindsided" in front of her mom and her boyfriend, Chase Stokes, who was among the crowd.

"I absolutely love her music," 29-year-old fan Andrea Trager tells TODAY.com. "I went through a tough time in my marriage last year and her songs really helped give me more perspective in life."

Trager explained that she traveled all the way to New York from Boston to see Ballerini perform. And it was well worth it once she got to take a photo with the country singer herself.

But what Ballerini probably didn't know is that she had another special fan watching her perform.

"My mom actually went to the same high school as Kelsea," Susannah Tighe, 27, tells TODAY.com. "So we've got a little bit of a background."

When asked whether that made her love Ballerini even more, Tighe, who came to the concert with her mom, Allyson Coker, 53, replied, "Absolutely!"

"Every time I hear 'Half of My Hometown,' my mom starts screaming at the top of her lungs because the red and black, the Bobcats, all of that was my mom's childhood. That was what she experienced growing up."

With songs that stem from her past, Ballerini is ready for the next stage in her life.

In February, the country singer released her latest EP "Rolling Up the Welcome Mat," which has been gaining traction online.

She says the biggest change that happened between that EP and her first one, "Kelsea Ballerini," which she released in 2014, was that she feels more joy in her life.

"I was happy then, but I'm, like, deeply happy now," she says.

"I'm about to turn 30 and I'm excited to take a little bit of time off and go celebrate with my friends and my family and hang with my dog, and really dig my heels into my real life a little bit and live a life to write about."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com