Fresh off her divorce from Australian country singer Morgan Evans, Kelsea Ballerini slid into a famous Netflix star’s DMs, starting a nearly three-year-long love affair that made country music and Outer Banks fans swoon. To the disappointment of many, the “Baggage” singer’s rep announced the pair’s breakup on September 14. What went wrong between Ballerini and Stokes? According to some, the writing was on the wall. However, Stokes’ recent Instagram post provided a red herring to the impending heartbreak.

Kelsea Ballerini’s rep announces her breakup with Chase Stokes

People broke the news, via a rep for Ballerini, that the pair have officially gone their separate ways. Both 32, Ballerini and Stokes “gave it their all and tried to do everything they could to make it work.” However, they ultimately threw in the towel.

The announcement shocked fans who noted Stokes’ Instagram post from two days earlier. The Outer Banks star posted a carousel of 12 photos with Ballerini with the caption, “Although you keep saying you’re not excited for 32, id say I’m lookin forward to more of this. happy birthday my love.” The pictures, which are still up on his Instagram page, feature the couple in many behind-the-scenes moments, cuddling with their dogs, backstage at concerts, and traveling together.

It’s easy to assume that Stokes wouldn’t have made such a public declaration of love if he suspected they were going to break up two days later.

Why did Chase and Kelsea break up?

Rumors have flown for months as Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes refrained from posting each other as often as they did earlier in their relationship. Some Outer Banks stans relentlessly compared the “Blindsided” singer to Stokes’ co-star Madelyn Cline. And gossip accounts hinted at trouble in paradise via various “hot tips.”

One Redditor commented on the news, “She’s been posting him a lot less over the past few months and I was wondering if she was starting to distance herself from him. She only separated from her husband in August ’22 and they were dating by January ’23 and it might have been tough to jump into another committed relationship right away.”

Another theorized, “For something this abrupt, it has to be something nuclear to blow up the relationship like the discovery of a mistress’s baby or prolonged cheating.”

One self-described “Kelsea fan” said, “I could see the writing on the wall for a long time. Her music and the way she talked about him made it seem they were very very up and down.” Which song or songs alluded to a rollercoaster relationship? Many fans believe “Beg for Your Love” off her Patterns album is about Stokes. Some of the lyrics include, “I’d follow you to the moon / But it’s getting harder to do / But if you want a chase, I won’t run / I ain’t gonna beg for your love.”

Did Ballerini and Stokes’ relationship involve cheating, a desire for time alone, or simply growing apart? Perhaps we’ll learn more as both celebrities lick their wounds.