Kelsea Ballerini's New Song Nails the Brutal Reality So Many Women are Facing

Millennial women changed the rules. We looked at the timelines and the expectations under which our own mothers operated and we said "you know what? We're going to rescript our options". For some of us, that meant opting out of or delaying motherhood. Because thanks to reproductive technologies and shifting societal standards, we have the power the choose the timelines and options that work for our lives, our careers, our partnerships, and our finances. 

But that doesn't mean it's easy. For many of us, finding the balance of waiting until we are truly ready to become parents, alongside the juggle of all our other goals and dreams, can feel impossible — even with access to things like egg freezing and fertility testing. 

And in her new song, Kelsea Ballerini captures that struggle beautifully. In "I Sit in Parks", Ballerini sings: I sit in parks/ It breaks my heart ‘cause I see just how far I am/ From the things that I want."

It's easy to look at Ballerini's life and think she has everything. She is so successful and so talented, and she's living out a reality so many young girls and women dream of as a wildly successful musician. But at the end of the day, there's no such thing as having it all.

Maybe, in order to make her musical dreams come true, Ballerini needed to press pause on her parenting plans. Maybe she just hasn't found a partner who makes her feel prepared to take that step. The point is, she’s feeling something so many women feel as she conquers her dreams, all while the old adages about biological clocks ring in her ears.

One of the most raw moments of the song comes when Ballerini sings the line “I wonder if she wants my freedom like I want to be a mother.”

It’s a sobering reminder: There’s no perfect timeline or life plan…and even when we look like we have it all, as women, something always has to give. 

Ask Clara: What is the biological clock?