New Zealand country music singer Kaylee Bell recently opened up about her latest surprise hit: motherhood.
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Since her teens, Bell, now in her mid-30s, has faced debilitating health issues misdiagnosed as IBS, mental health problems, or endometriosis. The “BOOTS ‘N ALL” singer thought she couldn’t have a baby until a test last year confirmed her pregnancy with her partner and fellow musician, Nick Campbell.
“It was pure shock like when we found out we were having a baby,” the singer recently admitted to Radio New Zealand (RNZ). “I was in Nashville, and my partner was over, and I’d missed some periods. “I was like, ‘That’s not normal.”
“It was wild. Your whole life flashes before you a little bit,” Bell added.
Bell won Best Country Album at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards for Heart First. By 32, during COVID, she felt frustrated and decided to apply to The Voice Australia on a whim. The show accepted her and suggested she perform her original song, “Keith,” dedicated to judge Keith Urban.
“You couldn’t have written that script,” Bell told RNZ. During her blind audition, Urban’s reaction to her powerful vocals was immediate.
“Everyone says a song can change your life, and that song has totally changed my life,” she told the outlet.
According to RNZ, the singer’s TikTok followers grew from 400 to 150,000 overnight. Although she didn’t win The Voice, her song “Keith” reached #12 on the US Billboard Country Digital Sales chart and has 36 million Spotify streams. Of course, Bell’s newfound success aligns with country music’s increasing mainstream appeal, with artists like Beyonce, Post Malone and Jelly Roll going full tilt into the genre.
Country Singer Kaylee Bell Talks Juggling Surprise Motherhood and Her Rising Career
Since The Voice, Bell has become Australasia’s most-streamed female country artist. In 2023, she opened for Ed Sheeran in New Zealand and won the Global Country Artist award—all as an independent artist.
In 2024, after winning at the Aotearoa Music Awards, Bell discovered she was pregnant. Despite this, she toured Australia with Kane Brown early in her pregnancy and headlined CMC Rocks Queensland in March 2025, just weeks after her due date, followed by an appearance at the Country Calling U.K. festival in August.
“There’s no right time to have a child, but particularly as a female in music,” Bell pointed out. “I think it’s such a big conversation. Still, I think about, you know, can you have a baby and juggle a successful music career?”
Hours after the positive pregnancy test, Bell and Campbell began envisioning a life for their child split between New Zealand and Nashville.
“I look at a lot of [country] artists in America who tour all year around, and they have their families out with them the whole time, which is so wholesome, and again, something that I love, that we celebrate in country music because why shouldn’t it? Right?” Bell reasoned.
“If that’s your life, like I love that country is all about being authentic and talking about your life,” the singer added.
Indeed, just six weeks after welcoming her little cowboy into the world, Bell returned to the stage at CMC Rocks in Australia. She was met with an incredible crowd of 32,000 fans, all singing her songs back to her.