What you need to know
As Carly Pearce enters a new musical era, the country singer has one goal in mind. It’s about wanting to be bold.
Speaking to PEOPLE about her latest single, “Church Girl,” which will appear on her upcoming fifth studio album, Pierce said the song shows how she challenged herself in different ways while writing the record.
“I keep telling people to be bold. I want to be bold and I want to be unapologetic in everything I do,” Pierce, 35, exclusively tells PEOPLE.
“I feel like we’re ushering in a new music cycle with two songs that you don’t hear people talking about very much. You don’t hear people talking about shame in the church…especially in country music, but also in being a Christian,” she continues. “And I don’t hear people talking about the not-so-pretty parts of being in the spotlight. I don’t even want to call it fame, just living in front of people.”
In “Church Girl,” Pearce reflects on her relationship with religion and questions its “double standards.” Meanwhile, on ‘Dream Come True’, released in November, Pearce ponders the price of fame.
When she sat down to write these songs, she challenged herself to share a different perspective.
“I think[I wrote ‘Dream Come True’]out of necessity, I had to write that song, and then I realized what that song did…I needed to go back to that original dream,” she says. “What were my dreams when I was little? I moved here 17 years ago this year. Why?”
Along the way, Pierce rediscovered his spark and was able to focus on what really mattered: music.
“I believe that being a singer is my purpose in life. Not to sound trite, but I know that this is my destiny,” she says.
“But I’ll tell you, of course there are moments where you’re like, ‘I can’t take it anymore, it’s so painful,'” she added. “It’s hard sometimes, and it’s hard to put your life out there and have people write about it. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong…People are just mean.”
She concluded: “So I’ve been really focused on trying to unravel some of that on my own and get back into music. I’ve made my best music and my favorite music I’ve ever made.”
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Pearce now finds joy in life outside of work, which she says is “painfully normal.”
“I go to training classes with the girls in Cul-de-sac from Dream Come True. I love going to the grocery store. I love my dog. I’m very normal and I love that. I live a very simple life,” she says. “Sometimes I forget, when people come up to me and say, ‘I love your music,’ I think, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I don’t live for the show.”
She continued, “I’ve been working really hard on my mental health over the last year. It hasn’t been great… I don’t think I could have written a song like ‘Dream Come True’ if I was completely sober mentally. But… has given me the opportunity to grow. So this year’s vision board is much less anxious and more genuine…I have real goals, I have purpose, and I feel very fulfilled with my life now.”
