Country kind of love. Carly Pearce’s self-titled sophomore album drops on Friday, February 14, a.k.a. Valentine’s Day — and it’s the ultimate love story.
The Kentucky native, 29, is rooted in classic country music, having left home at 16 to work at Dollywood before climbing the music ladder and releasing her debut record, Every Little Thing, in 2017.
Her upcoming album, which features singles “You Kissed Me First” and duet “I Hope You’re Happy Now” with Lee Brice, shows off how the “down-to-earth” artist has “carved out her own highly honest, emotionally compelling place in a very Pop-Country world,” according to a statement obtained by to Us Weekly.
Throughout the record, the platinum-certified artist’s relationship with her husband, Michael Ray, from their initial attraction to their 2019 wedding, can be followed as their romance encapsulates a large portion of the tracks.
“You Kissed Me First,” for example, was written by Hillary Lindsey, with Pearce in mind, and upon first listen Pearce, who has toured with Blake Shelton and Old Dominion, knew it was describing her and Ray’s initial spark.
“It had this fun, flirty confidence to it and just a little bit of swagger that I could relate to,” Pearce said in an interview on her YouTube channel published earlier this month. “It reminds me of the way I started my relationship. Just reminds me of some of those fun, kitchen wine nights that we used to have. Just forgetting to eat because we were so obsessed with each other.”
The story behind “Call Me,” on the other hand, is a little more sassy and shows off the CMA and ACM Awards nominated and CMT Music Award-winning musician’s direct and forceful nature when it comes to relationships.
“It’s a little different for me. It lets me be sassy. Just because I got married doesn’t mean I don’t want to be sexy and flirty and fun,” the “Hide the Wine” artist told her fans in a YouTube video in January. “This song does kind of embodies the girl that — we all know that I slid into Michael’s DMs — just having that confidence to say, ‘I’m here, I’m not going to beg for it, but if you want it come get it.’”
That same month, Pearce released “Heart’s Going Out of Its Mind” and told her social media followers that she wrote it days after her first date with her now-husband.
“I felt high, I felt out of body & definitely out of my mind— but somehow, I just knew,” she wrote at the time. “I’m so happy to bring y’all the very first song I wrote about my now HUSBAND. 😍 This song marks the beginning of my forever.”
Carly Pearce is available for pre-sale now and available everywhere on Friday, February 14, via Big Machine Records.
