Typically, album rollouts are some of the best times for an artist. With media coverage, TV appearances, listening parties and a general feeling of excitement from fans, they’re undoubtedly one of the biggest moments every year or so. For Kelsea Ballerini, however, it hasn’t quite been the same.
Despite the anticipated release of her seventh studio album, PATTERNS, the “Dibs” singer has had her Goldendoodle, Dibs, on her mind. Dibs, who is been alongside Ballerini seemingly everywhere, was recently diagnosed with heart cancer.
Back in August, Ballerini broke the news in an Instagram story saying, “The last few days we have discovered that Dibby has inoperable cancer in his heart. He’s not in pain, and luckily, it hasn’t spread further… It’s a complex and emotional time. He’s been my baby and my steady for the last 9 years and very much alongside this whole journey with us all.”
Over the past two months, it seems as if Dibs’ health has been slowly declining with Ballerini fearing that he may be in his final months.
In an Instagram post promoting the release of PATTERNS and her October 29th performance at Madison Square Garden, Ballerini featured plenty of footage of Dibs alongside her pre-diagnosis. In the caption, she said, “PS – We filmed this a few weeks before we learned about Dibby’s diagnosis, which makes this announcement more emotional and sentimental. He sure did love getting to frolic around NYC and put his happy spirit into MSG to get it ready for us all.“
Flash forward to this past Tuesday and Ballerini finally made her album release show at Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd of over 20,000 people. During the show, Ballerini played her 2023 hit, “Penthouse,” which features a lyric about dibs in the second verse.
“I bought the house with a fence
Enough room for some kids, a backyard for Dibs“
During the performance, Ballerini couldn’t help but get emotional singing the lyrics. With tears in her eyes, she let the crowd take over the rest of the verse and chorus and said, “I’m going to need you to take this chorus for me.”
To say the moment was powerful would simply be an understatement. With four dogs of my own, my heart goes out to Ballerini. There’s simply nothing worse than seeing one of your pets go through what Dibs is going through.
Watch here:
