Ballerini rolls out the "Welcome Mat"

To accompany the music, Ballerini wrote and directed, alongside co-director Patrick Tracy, a short film shot in a white, minimalist environment on YouTube.

"I wasn't worried about anything other than presenting the songs as honestly as possible," Ballerini said. "Most of them started with me and my guitar."

Working with frequent collaborator Alysa Vanderheym, the pair co-produced and co-wrote three songs. Ballerini wrote the other three songs on her own.

"I was writing by myself for most of the project, and it was nice to trust myself again," said Ballerini. "The only way I've been able to handle my life since I was 12 was to write about it. Ironically, I started writing music because my parents got divorced; that was my therapy. 'Rolling Up The Welcome Mat' was how I processed everything. It's the way I got my feelings out of my body and heart and put them to music, which is the purest way I could've handled it."

"I lived in a penthouse," she said of "Penthouse's" inspiration. "The concept of a penthouse seems so glamorous, but it stopped feeling that way. I lost track of what was good in how I got there, and suddenly, I realized what you think isn't always what there actually is."

Following a sold-out tour of the United Kingdom, Ballerini will launch the second U.S. leg of her HEARTFIRST Tour in March.