Kelsea Ballerini Got ‘Replaced’ by a Fellow Country Star on Jonas Brothers Duet

Kelsea Ballerini and pop group the Jonas Brothers go way back. Ballerini's been vocal about the fact that she's a longtime fan, plus the two acts have toured together, and Ballerini and Nick Jonas even shared the stage at the 2016 ACM Awards.

So, it's about time they recorded an official collaboration, right?

Ballerini fielded a fan question about that during a Friday (Nov. 17) Instagram Q&A, and she got extremely honest in response to someone who wanted to know about the likelihood of a future Ballerini/JoBros duet. Truth be told, the country singer explained, they'd already recorded a collab -- but she ultimately got edged out by fellow country singer Bailey Zimmerman.

"To be so honest, I was on 'Strong Enough' but did indeed get replaced hahahaha," the singer wrote on an Instagram Stories slide, set against a closeup shot of her covering up her face with her palm. "But Bailey is sick."

"Strong Enough" -- and Zimmerman's participation in it -- was first announced in early November, just days before the song dropped on Nov. 10. The cross-genre collaboration came about "randomly," Zimmerman explained to Taste of Country backstage at the 2023 CMA Awards.

"Randomly met them in Boston. They invited me to their show in Boston after I played Fenway with Morgan [Wallen]," the up-and-coming country star recounted.

"Three weeks later the Jonas Brothers send me a song," he continued, "and then all of a sudden I'm on a text chat with Nick, Joe and Kevin. We were, like, talking about it, and then now we have a song coming out."