Kelsea Ballerini Spent ’10 Years’ Trying to Execute Taylor Swift’s Advice

Kelsea Ballerini is opening up about the influence of fellow singer Taylor Swift.

Ballerini, 31, revealed exclusively to Us Weekly that Swift, 35, helped shape the “Baggage” singer’s early career with a piece of advice that still impacts her today.

“Speaking of Taylor Swift, one of the most beautiful pieces of advice that I’ve gotten in my whole career was from her early on,” Ballerini said of her longtime friend. “I was just starting and I’m a young girl on an independent label. [I asked her] what are the challenges here? She said, ‘You have to become undeniable.’”

Ballerini, who has released five chart-topping albums, explained that she spent “the last 10 years trying to figure out what does [becoming undeniable] look like for me?”

“How do I do that, honestly?” the “Blindsides” musician said while discussing the launch of SoFi’s Rising Stars Program. “[Swift’s advice] required me to really have a different relationship with the idea of what success means to me. Finding peace in the fact that everyone’s journey is different — and it’s supposed to be — and really finding joy in mine.”

It’s a lesson that Ballerini has since imparted to her team on The Voice, where she is a first-time judge. The “Penthouse” singer teased the NBC series’ finale, which airs next week, telling Us that the show will have “a lot of guest superstar performers so that’ll be amazing.”

“I’m probably just going to scream, cry and throw up when they tell us who wins,” Ballerini added. “[Being a judge] makes me want to be a better artist because as I’m giving advice, I’m also reminding myself to take it. There’s a nice little mirror effect there.”

In addition to mentoring on The Voice, Ballerini is working with SoFi and Tennessee non-profit tnAchieves to share financial knowledge that she believes people, especially young women, need to know. The Tennessee native is partnering with the finance app to invest $2 million for Tennessee’s post-secondary students through SoFi’s Rising Star Program.

“I think, for me — being a woman raised in the South specifically — we did not talk about money and finances,” Ballerini said. “We certainly did not have the tools or the resources to really learn how to look out for ourselves, especially young [women].”

Ballerini added that now, at age 31, she is “actively learning” about finances because “not only do I want to invest in my dreams and my goals — I want to invest correctly to look out for my future self.”

“I would love to be able to be a part of shifting the narrative,” Ballerini said. “It’s important to me and I want to talk about it. I want everyone to set themselves up for success in whatever way that looks right to them.”