Carly Pearce has a new song out, this one about a heartbreak. The Kentucky native just released “my place,” from her forthcoming hummingbird album, out on June 14.
Pearce, who penned the song with Lauren Hungate and Jordan Reynolds, shared the inspiration behind the song on social media. Although she doesn’t mention the person by name, it is likely about her ex-boyfriend, Riley King, whom she dated for more than two years, before calling it quits in 2023.
“I woke up the morning I wrote this song after having a dream that the relationship I was in had ended,” Pearce explains. “It was almost like my heart knew it was going to happen before I wanted to believe it. It’s hard to let people go. Your heart wrestles with the fact that someone who was once your whole world, isn’t it anymore.
“Social media sure doesn’t make it easy either, as we all see when our exes move on. This song is my story of that realization and also that acceptance,” she adds. “That it’s not “my place” anymore…”
hummingbird is Pearce’s first album since 29: Written in Stone came out in 2021. The Grand Ole Opry member put a lot of thought into what she wanted to say following that project, which was an honest and vulnerable look at her feelings about her split from Michael Ray.
“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.”
Pearce put a lot of thought into every aspect of hummingbird, including the sequencing of songs. The first track from the project is the lighthearted “Country Music Made Me Do It,” ending the 14-song record with the title track.
“It was important to me that the first songs that people heard from me were that I’m doing good,” Pearce shares. “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 is serving as direct support for Tim McGraw, on his Standing Room Only Tour. She will spend part of next year headlining her international hummingbird tour. Pearce currently has a Top 20 single with “We Don’t Fight Anymore,” her collaboration with Chris Stapleton.
Find all of Pearce’s music and upcoming shows at CarlyPearce.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BLMG / Allister Ann