Kelsea Ballerini on Battling Insecurities With Her 2018 CMA Awards Performance (Exclusive)

Kelsea Ballerini's performance at the 2018 CMA Awards was all about pushing past her insecurities. 

The 25-year-old singer took the stage at the awards show in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, to sing her song, "Miss Me More," on TV for the first time. She told ET's Nancy O'Dell on the red carpet just hours before her performance that viewers were in for something special. 

"It's the first performance of 'Miss Me More,' and it's different. We spent two full days with a choreographer. We have 16 dancers, and basically, every dancer represents the things that you have to fight away from yourself, so like, insecurity or fear or anger or whatever it is that you struggle with, and it's the push and pull of those things throughout your life," Ballerini explained. "So, it's kind of personifying that. I'm really excited."

As for which of those things she struggles with most, the "I Hate Love Songs" singer said it's "absolutely" insecurity. 

"That's what the whole song is about -- you get through something. In my case, it was a relationship years ago, and I looked in the mirror, and I lost myself. How did I do that? Now I have to figure out who I am now. And it was fighting through those insecurities to get there," she said, giving credit to her husband, Morgan Evans, for helping her get to a better place. 

The singer -- who is nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year -- also opened up about why she felt the need to recently call out haters on social media for criticizing her weight. 

"I know, especially on my Instagram, there's a lot of young girls who follow me. I'm aware of that, and I didn't want some young girl to come across that photo and see that comment and think that that's something that I needed to do, and that was normal," she shared. "I'm healthy, and I work out, and I eat well, but I also eat burgers, and I drink wine when I want to, and I'm just happy and I'm healthy. That's what I want to represent."

See more from the 2018 CMA Awards in the video below.

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