Chase Stokes said watching Kelsea Ballerini’s album-making process has been “a master class in songwriting.”

The Outer Banks star spoke about his relationship with Ballerini, who celebrates her 31st birthday on Thursday (September 12), with PEOPLE in a newly-published interview. Stokes shared how the two prioritize spending time with one another when their jobs pull them to different cities. Sometimes, that meant Ballerini traveled to South Carolina to visit Stokes on the Outer Banks set, and other times, Stokes joined Ballerini in the recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. They also carve out time in L.A., where Ballerini is filming her first-ever coaching season of The Voice.

“It is unbelievable,” Stokes told PEOPLE of Ballerini’s journey of creating Patterns, her fifth full-length album due to release next month. “It is a master class in songwriting. To watch her on the back porch writing and see what it is now, it is the most fascinating thing.”

Stokes and Ballerini began talking in December 2022, when she slid into his DMs on Instagram. They sparked dating rumors for the first time after Stokes shared a photo sitting closely with Ballerini at the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2023. Ballerini confirmed the budding romance in an interview the following month. They celebrated their one-year anniversary at the beginning of the year, and Ballerini thanked her boyfriend “for making me write love songs,” in her anniversary tribute.

So far, Ballerini has released “Sorry Mom” and “Cowboys Cry Too,” featuring Noah Kahan, from the 15-track collection. Patterns follows the singer-songwriter’s latest full-length album, Subject To Change, and Rolling Up The Welcome Mat, a surprise EP and short film that arrived a few months later. Ballerini previously said she’s “singing about a chapter of my life that is far past me now,” referencing the heartache she experienced amid her divorce. Instead, she began “writing about the chapter of life that I’m in, and it looks very different,” amid her romance with Stokes. She delivered the debut live performance of a heartfelt ballad, “To The Men That Love Women After Heartbreak,” on the historic Grand Ole Opry stage in November 2023, though many fans noticed that the song does not appear on the Patterns track list. Ballerini said during a rooftop show in Nashville in June that she’s “never handled anything with so much care in my life,” while talking about her then-unannounced album.

Patterns will arrive on October 25. Days later, Ballerini will perform a sold-out album release show with sister duos Aly & AJ and Tigirlily Gold at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Tim Palmer

He lives in rural Kenya where electricity is a very rare thing. Through his efforts, he's providing electricity to 250 homes in his village.