Carly Pearce is ready to put every little thing out there.
Two years after releasing her album 29, which centered around her 2020 divorce from Michael Ray after 8 months of marriage, the singer has opened up about what this next chapter of her life—and her music—looks like. And indeed, her new single "Country Music Made Me Do It," which she described as the closest she'll get to a "semi-autobiographical anthem," is also the start of a new era of music from the country star.
"I feel like I was just trying to survive," Carly told E! News' Francesca Amiker of the years following her divorce as well as the death of her longtime producer Busbee to glioblastoma in 2019. "And what these last few years has done for me is given me the confidence to dive right in and own that real traditional sound of country music that made me fall in love with it."
She continued, "So I feel like what's happening now is obviously I'm telling my stories in the way that I see the world, but I'm also just really leaning into the kind of production and instrumentation I always wanted to. And just taking a chance on making music that I really love."
And now that she's moved past that difficult period, the 33-year-old is looking to the future.
"Now this large event is not happening in my life," Carly noted, "and life's going pretty good and settled, what do I want this next chapter to be?"
As it turns out, this next chapter includes some levity.
"And there's some fun songs on there, and some really high energy song," she revealed. "I'm just really excited, I feel like fans have no idea what this album is going to be like. And as I start to put it together, and finish it, I'm really proud of it."
The "What He Didn't Do" singer also reflected on getting candid about certain aspects of her personal life with fans while maintaining a certain level of privacy.
"When you're in the public eye, you have to wrestle with how much do you want to share and how much do you want to keep private," Carly explained. "And I think about those moments where if I wouldn't have carried the burden of strength to stand up and say, 'Yes this is my story. Yes this isn't beautiful, but here I am,' I don't know where my career would've been."
She added, "And I feel more myself now, and more of a woman, because I've had to go through different things and overcome different things."