She’s rolling up the welcome mat.

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the 60th Academy Of Country Music Awards in May 2025.Credit: 

Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images

It looks like the rodeo is over for Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes. The country singer and the Outer Banks star have broken up after nearly three years of dating, a rep for Ballerini confirmed to People on September 14.

Making the sudden split feel even more confusing for fans was the fact that Stokes had posted a birthday tribute to Ballerini on Instagram just two days earlier. “Although you keep saying you’re not excited for 32, id say I’m lookin forward to more of this. happy birthday my love ❤️,” he wrote in the caption. He included photos of himself and Ballerini attending a basketball game, taking selfies on a plane, sharing meals, and enjoying downtime together.

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards in February 2025.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Ballerini did not post for Stokes’ birthday, which is September 16—two days after her rep confirmed their breakup to People. How did they go from Ballerini successfully sliding into Stokes’ DMs to her finding inspiration for a future heartbreak anthem? Sources close to the couple told People it just wasn’t meant to be. “They’re two adults who gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work, but ultimately couldn’t,” they told the outlet, adding, “It happens.”

While dating rumors swirled around the couple as early as January 2023, it wasn’t until March of that year that Stokes officially confirmed the relationship in an appearance on TODAY. Host Sheinelle Jones mentioned Ballerini would be going on Saturday Night Live the following night as the musical guest, and asked Stokes, “Going out on a limb here—are you a fan?”

“Absolutely I’m a fan. Yeah, who isn’t a fan?” he responded. Jones then ventured to say they were dating, and Stokes nodded in agreement.

The world got their relationship origin story in September 2023, when Ballerini made an Instagram post celebrating Stokes’ birthday. In the last slide of the post, she shared a screenshot of her first direct messages to the actor sent in December 2022. “Hiii chase stokes,” she wrote at 1:07 a.m. on December 1. “Hey there how u doin,” he responded two hours later. “I’m kels, nice to meet you ☺️,” she replied, a message Stokes “loved” by leaving a heart emoji reaction.

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at The 58th Annual CMA Awards in November 2024.Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

Before dating Stokes, Ballerini was married to Australian country artist Morgan Evans for nearly five years. They filed for divorce in August 2022. At the time, a source told People the “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” singer and Evans had “been working on their marriage for a very long time. Prior to this they had separated privately once before and have been in therapy for several years. They gave it their best go but unfortunately arrived at the decision to formally separate.” Stokes, meanwhile, previously dated Outer Banks co-star Madelyn Cline from 2020 to 2021.

Kelsea Ballerini performing on TODAY in New York on October 25, 2024.Nathan Congleton/NBC

Several of Ballerini’s songs are theorized (or confirmed) to be about Stokes. “‘First Rodeo’ is the first love song that I wrote for Patterns,” she told TODAY in December 2024. “and I couldn’t put a visual out into the world and not have [Stokes’] essence in it. I mean, the song is about him, and that moment of kind of surrendering to the idea of falling in love again.” Another song for Stokes: “To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak.”

Neither Ballerini nor Stokes have publicly commented on their breakup, but rest assured that her listeners will be combing through the lyrics of her next project for clues as to what happened.