VFX for Kelsea Ballerini's "HEARTFIRST"

Kelsea Ballerini's "HEARTFIRST" became the most-added track to country radio in April 2022, with around 80 stations adding it to rotation upon release. The song's music video, directed by frequent Ballerini collaborator Patrick Tracy from a treatment she wrote herself, translates the track's central conflict — chasing love against all logic — into a series of dreamlike vignettes: Kelsea lifted into the clouds, riding a beachside rollercoaster, gambling on the odds of winning a guy at a casino in the sky, and finally taking a leap of faith back down to earth. Shot in a single day in Ballerini's home state of Tennessee, the video originally considered using a real tiger on set before pivoting to a fully composited one — a last-minute creative call that FRENDER's team executed with striking realism. FRENDER's VFX brought Ballerini's flying and rollercoasting sequences to life with a lightness that matches the song's giddy, head-in-the-clouds spirit, supporting a video that stands as one of the most visually ambitious of her career.

‘HEARTFIRST’ tells a story of the ever-recurring conflict of mind and heart. We’ve all been there – when we go for love against all odds, not listening to logical arguments, but rather trusting our gut feeling. “That voice in my head says to slow down // But it can't see the way you're looking at me right now”, a perfect depiction of the situation is right there in the ‘HEARTFIRST’ lyrics.

No wonder that in the music video Kelsea is lifted into the clouds, going on the rollercoaster high in the sky, taking a gamble and rolling dice on the odds of winning a guy, eventually taking a leap of faith and falling from the skies right back on the earth. Here’s where her love interest is looking at her, his smile prompting Kelsea to make a first move.

Ballerini was actively involved into the shooting process. She was the master behind the ideas in the video, she was also extremely productive – the whole shooting of ‘HEARTFIRST’ was taken in one day! The site was located in Nashville, Tennessee with a local team – no wonder, as Kelsea is herself a Tennessee-native.

Fun fact about the video: the team considered a real tiger to be used on the set. But if you don’t know, filmmaking is all about last-minute tweaks, so the tiger was eventually composited onto the original footage. By the way, quite realistic work from your truly FRENDER team.

As we mentioned earlier, ‘HEARTFIRST’ is about having your head in the clouds. Not because it’d be harder to hear the reasons of Kelsea’s skeptical mind, but because love takes her to cloud nine. FRENDER created beautiful shots of Ballerini flying and rollercoasting high in the sky, so lovely that viewers would unintentionally smiling while watching the video (we checked!).

We strongly believe into the famous ‘It’s better to see something once that to hear about it a thousand times’, so please watch ‘HEARTFIRST’ by extremely talented Kelsea Ballerini and check out VFX shots we created, inspired by her vision.