November 14, 2025: Kelsea Ballerini releases her latest EP, Mount Pleasant. Fans suspect that multiple songs are about Stokes, though they seem particularly hung up on “Emerald City.” In the ballad, Ballerini sings about being jealous of a “pretty” woman who “got around.” Some listeners began speculating that the woman in question was Stokes’s ex, Cline.
November 10, 2025: Sources tell Us Weekly that Ballerini and Stokes are officially back on. “Kelsea and Chase are giving their relationship another try,” one source explains. “There’s still a lot of love there, so they fell back into it very naturally.”
November 7, 2025: People shares a photo of the duo in Croatia, and the meetup doesn’t seem very platonic. “They were holding hands at the table and talking closely,” an onlooker tells the publication. “After they got up, they walked together hand in hand towards Old Town. They looked very cute.”
That very same day, Ballerini releases her single, “I Sit in Parks,” which seems to unpack her yearning for motherhood and fears that she forged the wrong path for herself.
September 14, 2025: A rep for Ballerini confirms the pair have split. “They’re two adults who gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work, but ultimately couldn’t. It happens,” an unidentified source tells People at the time.
September 12, 2025: Stokes posts a loving tribute to Ballerini on her birthday, just two days before her rep confirms their split. “although you keep saying you’re not excited for 32, id say I’m lookin forward to more of this,” he captions the slideshow, which is still up on his feed as of November 21. “happy birthday my love ❤️”