Kelsea Ballerini is suing an alleged hacker for leaking her music.
Kelsea Ballerini is suing an alleged hacker
The 30-year-old singer has filed for a temporary restraining order against Bo Ewing, a "former member of [her] fan club", who she has accused of illegally obtaining and sharing "still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos" of the 'Half of my Hometown' hitmaker's songs.
Court documents filed by Kelsea, producer Alysa Vanderheym and Black River Entertainment obtained by People magazine described the Ohio-based alleged hacker as a "supporter of her career in the past" who "has since become disenfranchised with Ms. Ballerini. They allege she obtained the recording files "through gaining back-door access to the device of either, or both, of Ms. Ballerini or Ms. Vanderheym."
The paperwork noted the tracks were unfinished and had already been shared with multiple third parties.
The plaintiffs have secured an injunction to protect the recordings going forward, specifically citing "continued, irreparable harm" to those named in the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the country singer said: "Protection of an artist’s music is of the upmost importance. Artists spend countless hours perfecting their craft and telling their stories through their music. Stealing and sharing unfinished music is illegal and harms the integrity of the creative process.”
The 'Miss Me More' singer recently reflected on her "life-changing" year after divorcing Morgan Evans after five years of marriage and embarking on a new relationship with actor Chase Stokes, and explained how the shift in her personal life had made her more "selfish" about her music.
Discussing her Grammy-nominated EP 'Rolling Up the Welcome Mat', she told People: "I think just this last year of my life has just changed everything about the way that I think about my career and my personal life. I think I earned my freedom as a songwriter. The thing that I learned that I just really hold closely now is there's no amount of truth-telling or detail that will make it not relatable.
"I think for a long time, even though I was writing about my life and my emotions, I would try to round the edges, because I'm like, ‘I want everyone to feel themselves in this,’ or see themselves in the story.
"I made it very selfishly … quite literally emotionally because I had to!"