It’s a good day to be Carly Pearce! The rising star received four CMA Awards nominations, for New Artist of the Year, as well as Song of the Year, Musical Event of the Year and Video of the Year, all for “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” her duet with Lee Brice.
“Being nominated as an artist, songwriter, visual storyteller and collaborator with Lee Brice is truly an honor,” Carly said of the industry recognition. ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ was the last song I worked on with my producer busbee before he unexpectedly passed away from brain cancer last September. I celebrate these nominations with him, knowing that he is looking down on me from above.”
Carly also spoke out on social media about the four nominations.
“YALL. I am ugly crying,” Carly wrote. “These are the moments I’ve dreamt about since I was a little girl. Thank you [Country Music]— I am humbled & I am honored.”
YALL. I am ugly crying. These are the moments I’ve dreamt about since I was a little girl. Thank you @CountryMusic — I am humbled & I am honored. 🥺♥️🙏🏻 #cmaawards pic.twitter.com/wPWDV8vamm
— Carly Pearce (@carlypearce) September 1, 2020
Carly released her self-titled sophomore album earlier this year, later surprising fans by revealing that she was already working on new music. The news came in the wake of her split from Michael Ray, after less than a year of marriage, giving Carly plenty of creative fuel for more music.
“I oddly just started to feel a rush of emotions of things that I felt like I wanted to say,” Carly shared with Everything Nash and other outlets. “Going through a lot of personal growth during this time and felt like I was hanging on to Busbee and had to kind of deal with that in its own time. It felt like it was jolted and sped up for me. We had some hard conversations of, do we continue on with this music or do we do something new? All of a sudden, I felt so creative and so much at peace. I felt like I had a lot to say that I didn’t know was in me. And maybe that’s because as an artist, not that you become a character, but you certainly go into autopilot of what you do every day.
“When I was making my second record, I would fly home to do laundry, to pack up, to leave by midnight, but then I’d have a write in there somewhere,” she added. “My head would just be somewhere else. And so this time I’ve just had time for the first time since I got a record deal to just write.”
Carly shares the New Artist of the Year category with Jimmie Allen, Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett and Morgan Wallen. The 2020 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville on November 11 on ABC. More details will be announced in the near future.