Nick Jonas says 'really tragic' guitar solo with Kelsea Ballerini sent him to therapy
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Turns out Nick Jonas is, in fact, only human.
During the Jonas Brothers' appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, the "Jealous" singer-songwriter got candid about what he considered one of his "worst moments" on stage and how it led him to go to therapy.
The moment in question — which Jonas referred to as "a really tragic guitar solo debacle that happened on live TV" — occurred at the 2016 ACM Awards, when he was supposed to play guitar and sing a duet version of Kelsea Ballerini's hit "Peter Pan" alongside the country star.
"In retrospect, I can kind of laugh about how big I thought it was. But it did travel more than I wish it would have, and it did cause me to go to therapy," he recalled of the learning moment.
"I come out for my thing. I rehearsed it a million times. I'm feeling really confident about it — not even really thinking about it like it's a thing that's going to be problematic," he continued. "I started off, it was fine and as I walked towards her, I just went completely blank and I hit a wrong note and blacked out basically and clocked that it was wrong and I couldn't stop."
Larry Busacca/ACM2016/Getty Nick Jonas and Kelsea Ballerini
"Til this day and hours after unpacking it, I can't really figure out exactly what happened, but I was rushed to a car and rushed to a plane right after it," Jonas added. "I looked at my manager and said, 'I think that was bad.' I was, like, in shock kinda. It was a really traumatic moment that shaped the pressure I put on myself to be perfect and to always be on."
At the time, Jonas' snafu did make headlines, which he later addressed on his Twitter. "Just landed in London to all these posts from Sunday night's performance," he wrote. "So funny. Yes, I screwed up the solo thanks to a huge brain fart."
On the podcast, the musician said he has since learned to not pressure himself too much, and for her part, Ballerini has no hard feelings about the incident. The two would go on to duet on his 2016 single "Close" during the Jonas Brothers' Remember This Tour in 2021.
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