Kelsea Ballerini Spills the Tea on Her Steamy First Kiss With Chase Stokes

Kelsea Ballerini was back on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday (Nov. 29), and as expected, she had plenty of juicy details to dish.

Fans will remember that it was on a Call Her Daddy episode in early 2023 where Ballerini gave a tell-all post-divorce interview and hard-launched her relationship with her then-brand new boyfriend, Outer Banks actor Chase Stokes. This time around, Ballerini brought listeners up to speed on what life's been like since, and revisited some of the early moments of her love story with Stokes, including their first kiss.

The country singer has previously shared that she made the first move with an Instagram DM early last December, but it wasn't until just over a month later that they finally met in person after getting to know each other through texts, phone calls and video chats.

"[I] met him in person January 7. We were supposed to have our first date the 8th," Ballerini recounts. "But I was in L.A., and I was like, 'Crazy that I'm here and we're not in the same room.' He was like, 'Drop your pin.'"

Ballerini shared her location — a party where she was the performer — and she got offstage to a text from Stokes saying that he was outside.

"I'm sweating just thinking about this. I thought I was gonna pass out. 'Cause you know, you can have chemistry over the phone, but when you see each other, you're like, 'What's the height difference?' ... I didn't know what to do," she continues.

But she met him outside the venue, just as he was hopping out of his Ford Bronco ("Hot," Ballerini adds).

"He did not say a word to me, and he grabbed my face and he kissed me, and he pulled my face away, and he said, 'Thank God you're real,'" she goes on to say. "It was just so redeeming for my experience of men in relationships, and how — just, like, how sweet it was. You know?"

Elsewhere in the conversation, Ballerini explains that she wasn't necessarily looking for a longterm relationship when she first hopped into Stokes' DMs, but as she got to know him, she was impressed by their compatibility, and meeting in person sealed the deal.

"He's, like, the most emotionally intelligent man I've ever met in my life," the singer says. "I keep telling him he's a man written by a woman. Because he was raised by his mom, and he's very close with his sister. He's just so in tune with his emotions and is not afraid to be vulnerable."