Carly Pearce just announced the release of her 14-track hummingbird album, her first since 29: Written in Stone came out in 2021. In many ways, hummingbird is a fitting next chapter for Pearce, who used the lessons she learned from that painfully honest project to craft the new record.
“I was so intimidated of how to follow 29 because I never wrote that thinking it would have any kind of success,” Pearce tells Billboard. “But what it did is it taught me so much about how strong I am. And so, to see this album be finished and for it to speak to so much that has happened to me, I’m really proud of myself, and hummingbird will forever remind me that I can really do anything.”
29: Written in Stone included both the No. 1 “What He Didn’t Do,” and the chart-topping, Grammy-winning “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” collaboration with Ashley McBryde.
“[It] really taught me just how vulnerable I could be and how that could transcend,” Pearce explains. “Even though I thought I was only writing my story, it seems like I’ve been writing a lot of other people’s stories.”
Everything about hummingbird is intentional for Pearce, including the artwork and the song sequence.
“It was important to me that the first songs that people heard from me were that I’m doing good,” the Grand Ole Opry member says. “It’s a two-part album of healing because with the healing comes a great freedom and joy. Even the heavier side that can feel harder in moments, there’s still a sense of strength that 29 didn’t have because, quite frankly, I didn’t have the strength during 29.”
Pearce drew inspiration from one of her country music peers in crafting all of the parts of hummingbird, especially in deciding what she wanted the artwork for the record to look like.
“Especially in country music, it can get very, very polished and predictable in imaging,” Pearce says. “I’ve been really inspired by people like Kacey Musgraves, who has stayed competitive, but always has something different in the way that she looks in her photos. And I wanted to find how I could challenge myself from a visual standpoint to just look a little different.”
When announcing hummingbird, Pearce said her biggest goal is that the record inspires and encourages others, regardless of their current situation.
“The last few years have been a season of loss and growth, of healing and happiness,” Pearce shared on social media. “A belief that if I did the inner work, I would rebuild myself stronger than I was before, and a knowing that I have done some living and will always be unapologetic about it. These 14 songs incapsulate my confidence that there is light on the other side of darkness and my true love of country music.
“When you hear this album — wherever you are on your journey, I hope it shows you that pain can be a lesson that shows you just how strong you are and what you truly deserve,” she continued. “That we can all find the ‘hummingbird’ in the midst of whatever we’re going through.”
Pearce will join Tim McGraw this year on his Standing Room Only Tour, which begins on March 14. See a track list for hummingbird below. hummingbird will be released on June 14. Find all of Pearce’s music and upcoming shows at CarlyPearce.com.
hummingbird Track List:
1. “country music made me do it” | Written by Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
2. “truck on fire” | Written by Carly Pearce, Justin Ebach, Charles Kelley
3. “still blue” | Written by Carly Pearce, Natalie Hemby, Josh Osborne
4. “heels over head” | Written by Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
5. “we don’t fight anymore” featuring Chris Stapleton | Written by Carly Pearce, Pete Good, Shane McAnally
6. “rock paper scissors” | Written by Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds
7. “oklahoma” | Written by Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally, Jordan Reynolds
8. “my place” | Written by Carly Pearce, Lauren Hungate, Jordan Reynolds
9. “things I don’t chase” | Written by Robyn Dell’Unto, Kat Higgins, Ava Supplesa
10. “woman to woman” | Written by Carly Pearce, Tofer Brown, Lauren Hungate
11. “fault line” | Written by Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally, Jordan Reynolds
12. “pretty please” | Written by Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
13. “trust issues” | Written by Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds
14. “hummingbird” | Written by Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Shane McAnally, Jordan Reynolds