Kelsea Ballerini Puts Function Over Fashion and Changes Into Cozy Slides During the 2024 CMA Awards

Kelsea Ballerini knows that comfort is key.

After walking the red carpet at the 2024 CMA Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 20, the country star, 31, traded in her heels for comfy slides.

Inside the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Ballerini was spotted showing off her outfit – gray slides that complemented her silver sequined dress – as she sat next to her boyfriend Chase Stokes. The singer smiled as Stokes, 21, playfully reached for her feet, which were lifted off the ground.

Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes at the 2024 CMA Awards.

John Shearer/Getty/CMA

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Earlier that evening, the couple posed for photos on the red carpet. Ballerini dazzled in a Dolce & Gabbana dress that featured a wide bodice and daring side cutouts that showed some skin. The singer’s long, blonde hair fell in soft waves.

Meanwhile, Stokes kept it classic in a simple black suit and black boots by Kemo Sabe.

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Ballerini is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for “Cowboys Cry Too” with Noah Kahan. During the ceremony, she performed a country ballad alongside 27-year-old Kahan, wearing a white gown by Vietnamese fashion designer Cong Tri with ruffled chiffon cutouts.

Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini at the 2024 CMA Awards.

Jason Davis/WireImage

Performers included Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Brooks & Dunn, Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church and others.

In an interview on the Wayne D Show in June, Ballerini revealed that she met Kahan at the 2024 Grammy Awards in February.

Later, when she was working on Cowboys Cry, she thought of Kahan because it was a tribute to the “emotional men in my life” and she knew he “would be so mad to go there.”

“He wrote his verse and it just made the song a million times better,” she said.

Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan perform at the 2024 CMA Awards.

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Speaking to PEOPLE earlier this month, the country singer revealed her latest onstage wardrobe malfunction. The fashion mishap happened on her Heartfirst Tour, which was held in 2022 and 2023.

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“I do all these costume changes, and I had jeans on,” Ballerini said. “I sang ‘Miss Me More’, and because I have my own [in-ear] monitors, in my brain, I’m thinking, ‘Man, people are really shouting this. There’s something particularly stormy tonight!’ And then I realized that they were yelling at me to fasten the bar. That was embarrassing.”

However, Ballerini played like a pro.

“I’ve gotten caught in a zipper before in a quick change and I just had to grab the microphone and be in the tent backstage, like, ‘Be there for a second, please don’t leave!’ ” she continued. “But now I feel like all those moments, instead of being uncomfortable, just roll with it. It’s happening.”

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Source: HIS Education