Carly Pearce‘s self-titled sophomore album is only four months old, yet she is already working on new music! The singer revealed that the time at home, because of COVID-19, combined with the loss of her good friend and producer, Busbee, made her realize she already has plenty more that she wanted to say.
“I think that this pandemic has given me also just time to grieve him, if that makes sense,” Carly told Everything Nash and other outlets. “Not let go of him, but also understand that I have to move on. And I feel like in a weird way, God has given me doors; I’ve always been somebody that believes God will open doors that you’re supposed to walk through. Unexpectedly, I started writing. I just put out an album in February, so I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I still have all this music that I need to go out there and do and perform and live’.
“I oddly found myself extremely creative during this time,” she added. “I think a lot of people are going to be shocked that my next single will be completely new music, not off of that album with completely new people. I’ve been lucky to feel like I’ve found what is meant to be my next step through this. I feel confident in that. I know that [Busbee] always wanted me to fly and I think that he knew I struggled because of my time in Nashville. He knew that I struggled with true confidence, and was always just a little bit shy and a little unsure. And I feel like with these two records and with this time, I’m just ready to fly and show him that I can do it without him.”
The Kentucky native just celebrated a No. 1 single with “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” a duet with Lee Brice. The song became her second single to land at the top of the charts, with her debut single, “Every Little Thing,” her first. Both songs are deeply personal, which she hints there might be more of on her third record.
“I feel lucky that people seem to like the truth from me,” Carly acknowledged. “They seem to like not trying to put on an act. It’s very hard for me in songs to put an act on. It’s very hard for me to sugarcoat what I go through. I think that vulnerability in your music – all of my favorite female artists and all my favorite artists have always done it that way. And I just feel like it continues to remind me who I am in the format. And it continues to remind me what people want from me.
“It’s been healing in both songs. and in just the ride that I’ve had in the last few years of hearing how other people have gone through exactly what I have,” she continued. “With [‘ Hope You’re Happy Now’], I remember thinking, ‘God, I don’t know if anybody’s prepared for me to be like, ‘Hey, I broke someone’s heart. Oops.’ So many people tell me, ‘You helped me. This is the song that led me to break up that relationship.’ We all go through the same stuff. So, it’s pretty cool. And it makes me just go, ‘OK, when you continue on with music and you go on to the next thing, remember this.'”
Carly, who previously admitted she wanted to be a “face of the Opry,” also hints that she might make more music that leans into the traditional country sounds she grew up on, and still loves.
“‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ solidified for me, and I think re-reminded people that I want to be the modern country artist, the throwback kind of vintage [style] that becomes progressive,” Carly said. “I’m going to lean hard into it. I can tell you that.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BMLG / John Shearer
