Kelsea Ballerini described her "Rolling Up the Welcome Mat" EP as a continuation of her 2022 album "SUBJECT TO CHANGE," which are both projects that helped her through her darker moments. She wrote in a statement, via People, that this is something she's done since she was a child and going through her own parents' divorce. "These are six songs I wish I had last year. It's about the complexities of the feelings you go through during a massive shift at a young age," she said, sharing that it was how she "got my feelings out."
With Ballerini's third track on the EP, "Penthouse," the singer details a penthouse apartment that was exciting and always had things to look at outside. However, they "played the part five nights but ... were never there on the weekends," and she always wondered if her ex "hated" her whenever she had to leave for work. Basically, their relationship seemed fine within the confines of their apartment. The penthouse Ballerini is singing about might be a description of the actual Nashville apartment she lived in with her ex-husband, but it's also a metaphor for their perfect-on-the-outside marriage that's actually only being held together because of their familiar apartment. "I guess wrong can look alright / When you're playing home in a penthouse, baby," she sings in the chorus.
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