Kelsea Ballerini Leads a Family Singalong with Elmo and Friends During Her 'Sesame Street' Debut

"I love all families ... because every family's different," Kelsea Ballerini says before singing with Elmo and friends in a PEOPLE exclusive clip from her Sesame Street debut

Kelsea Ballerini is joining an illustrious list of music greats who've paid a visit to Sesame Street in the beloved children's show's 50+ year history.

The two-time Grammy Award nominee, 27, leads a singalong with Elmo and friends in a PEOPLE exclusive clip of her Sesame Street debut. "I wanna sing a song all about families," Ballerini tells Elmo in this week's episode, as the gang celebrate Family Day.

"Elmo loves his family," the fuzzy red Muppet says to Ballerini. "I love my family too," she responds. "Actually I love all families ... because every family's different."

Kelsea Ballerini Sesame Street
Elmo and Kelsea Ballerini. Zach Hyman/Sesame Workshop

She strums on an acoustic guitar as Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Abby, Grover and their families sing along. "Family might be your uncle / Or your aunt and you / Some families have one mother / Some families have two," Ballerini sings. "But the one thing every family has, whatever they may be / Is the thing that we call love / That's what makes a family."

Ballerini joins a star-studded lineup of celebrity guests for season 51 of Sesame Street, including Hailee Steinfeld, Issa Rae, Billy Porter, Stephen and Ayesha Curry and Maggie Rogers. She also joins the ranks of such country stars as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker and more, who've graced the show with their presence over the years.

Kelsea Ballerini Sesame Street
Kelsea Ballerini. Zach Hyman/Sesame Workshop

The Ballerini artist recently co-hosted the 55th CMT Music Awards with Kane Brown in Nashville. She also took home the CMT performance of the year award for her single "The Other Girl" featuring Halsey, after they performed the song together on last year's awards show.

"After this performance last year, there was a lot of chatter on, categorically, what genre that song did or didn't fit into," Ballerini said in her acceptance speech, noting the criticism that the performance wasn't country enough.

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"And the fact that you voted this as the winning performance tells me that you know where my roots are and that you know who I am. But it also tells me that you hear music as music, and it tells me that you love when people push boundaries and explore their artistry. And as I make a new record, that means the absolute world to me."

See Kelsea Ballerini perform with Elmo and friends on this week's Sesame Street, airing Thursday, June 17 on HBO Max.

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