Carly Pearce Breaks Down New Album hummingbird Track by Track: Exclusive
The post Carly Pearce Breaks Down New Album hummingbird Track by Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Track by Track is our recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through each song on a release. Today, country star Carly Pearce digs into the process of constructing her personal new LP, hummingbird.
When Carly Pearce began writing her new album, hummingbird, she hadn’t yet looked into the symbolism of the creature — but once she did, she knew she was indeed on the right path.
“That changed the whole plan for the album,” she tells Consequence. “I realized that hummingbirds are a sign that the healing process can begin and that good luck is on the way.”
hummingbird is the fourth studio album from the country superstar, and she assembled a team of heavy-hitters to execute her vision, reuniting with renowned Nashville songwriters like Shane McAnally and Natalie Hemby. She co-wrote all but one track on the album, and produced the project in full with McAnally and Josh Osborne.
When speaking about each song on the album, it’s extremely clear that Pearce values her role as a woman in country music in a time when female singers still often have to jump through extra hoops to score coveted radio time or land on an equal playing field. She is laser-focused on opening doors for the next generation of young women who want to step into the space, imparting any wisdom she has available.
“You can come out on the other side stronger from hardship,” she says, when asked to speak to the core message of the album. “If you do the work, and you’re diligent, and you own your journey and not try to compare yourself to other people, luck will be on your side. You don’t have to have it all figured out to be happy.”
Stream hummingbird below and read on for Pearce’s Track by Track breakdown.
Carly Pearce is currently on tour with Tim McGraw. Get tickets here.
“country music made me do it”:
It didn’t feel like I could put any other song first on the album. It feels like my love letter to country music, and it feels like an opportunity to say to everybody, “I’m okay. Everything’s great. We’ve moved on, and we’re able to poke fun.” Like so many people, country music has been the soundtrack to my life, and I think so many people can insert their stories into that song.
Country music has made me do a lot of really smart things, and it’s made me do a lot of really stupid things, and I kind of just lay it all out for you.
“truck on fire”:
“Truck on Fire” is a song I wrote with Charles Kelly from Lady A — we got together and I just really wanted to have an anthem. You’ll hear me say this a lot, but I just feel like I really understand my fans after the 29 season. I wanted them to feel empowered, and I think this song is such a clever way of using the old nursery rhyme of “liar liar pants on fire.” It gives you that fun confidence moment; all of us would love to be able to burn down the things that the people that are not nice to us love the most.
“still blue”:
[Co-writer] Natalie Hemby is one of my favorite people in general, but she also just really understands my country heart, and so this song is kind of my ode to The Judds. They were such a big influence of mine in that era of country music and I love the way this song feels. It feels like those old, rootsy Judds songs, but it also tells this story that’s very tongue-in-cheek: “You think that I still care, and that’s really cute, but I don’t.” I think that’s a really fun way of saying that.
“heels over head”:
Loretta Lynn was such a big influence of mine from a songwriting standpoint, and I feel like she said things that maybe shocked people, and I feel like this song is a little bit of a shocker. I think that we all know these particular types of people that just really are looking for the same good old time that maybe you’re not really looking for, and they should just be together. It’s that play on, “I’m sure she does love you because you’re, you’re really giving it to her. I’m sure that you really love her, because she’s let it all hang out. And I’m just.. not going to do that.”
“we don’t fight anymore” (featuring Chris Stapleton):
I love collaborations, and it was a dream of mine to have Chris Stapleton on a song I wrote. I think this song is just a really important one, because it kind of speaks about something that I think a lot of people don’t talk about — that kind of stance in a relationship where it’s just run cold.
I tried to figure out how I could authentically have a shot at him hearing this song, so I DM’d his wife, Morgan, on Instagram and she’s somebody that I’ve always had such a big heart for. I think she’s such a great singer and artist and writer. So I sent it to her and I said, “I’m sure you get asked to do a ton of stuff, but if he happens to like this song, I would love to have him on there.” Having somebody that you love and respect that much on a song… it’ll be one of my proudest moments.
“rock paper scissors”:
Well, “rock paper scissors” is pretty self-explanatory in the sense that I think it’s a really beautiful place to be in your life when you can poke fun at things that once absolutely wrecked you. And so, for me, this song kind of represents that. You listen to the song and you’re like, “Is that real? That really happened?”
I think that’s the beauty of country music, too — it’s laying it all out there, and this is a really fun, bluegrassy moment. As a songwriter, I’m proud of this one, because I think that play on words is just so good.
“oklahoma”:
I loved so many ’90s female country songs, and some of those were just moments to me. “A Little Past Little Rock” from Leanne Womack was a moment. “Cowboy Take Me Away” from The Chicks was a moment. I just feel like “oklahoma” has the same sentiment, and I think this represents the fact that sometimes a relationship shouldn’t continue, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. And I think that’s sometimes an even harder place to be — that place of knowing it’s not great, but you just aren’t really ready to move on from it.
“my place”:
It’s hard to watch people move on, and it’s hard to watch people find happiness in other places, and social media is the worst for letting us see exactly what people are doing and how they’ve moved on. I think that this song can resonate with anybody that maybe is struggling with that and is also owning that there are insecurities that come with people moving on. You’re going to find your happiness, but in the meantime, it’s awkward.
“things i don’t chase”:
This is the only song on the album that I didn’t write. I was in a cab in New York, and I was listening to some songs that I was sent, and this one just stopped me in my tracks. I think what I’ve learned over the last few years is that I know what my fans need to hear, and I know what they’re going through. We’re kind of all going through this at the same time, and I really needed to be reminded at this point that if someone wants to leave, let them. I feel like my fans need to know that, especially if they’re younger and going to experience love, just do not chase somebody.
“woman to woman”:
“woman to woman” feels like the big sister to “Next Girl.” I just have to protect the girls! That’s my big thing. Let me try and give people my experience, and maybe you can make fewer bad decisions. I also like the play on words in this song.
“fault line”:
My grandparents gave me a subscription from a TV infomercial to a collection of CDs to all of these different country decades, and I studied them, and I fell in love with that era of Tammy Wynette and George Jones singing these brutal duets to each other. I wanted to pay tribute to that kind of sound and that sentiment, because it was so influential for me. I like to think that they would sing this song in 2024 if they were alive — it’s that sentiment of, “We’re both crazy, and they’re probably really toxic for each other, and also if you look at him wrong, I’m going to kill you.”
“pretty please”:
I wrote this in a moment of fear and insecurity, and I think when you’re in your 30s and life has gone a different way, you might find yourself in a moment of wanting to feel wanted. I think that’s such a sad place to be, but I think so many people deal with that angst of, “I don’t need anything else from you, but will you just tell me that I’m pretty? That will mean something to me.”
“trust issues”:
This was the first song I wrote for the album, and I remember feeling a sense that I was on the right track. I wrote this when I had fallen in love for the first time since my divorce. That relationship, obviously, did not work out, but it allowed me to open my heart again to somebody who was safe, and who was a good person. I will forever cherish that song because that was really wonderful for me to be able to feel like I could open myself back up.
“hummingbird”:
“hummingbird” is my little artistic moment of meshing my bluegrass background with country, and it’s just a poetic way of saying that I’m not going to settle. I know who I am. It’s funny — I wrote this song, and then I started to look into the meaning of a hummingbird, and that changed the whole plan for the album, because I realized that hummingbirds are a sign that the healing process can begin and that good luck is on the way. That felt like the only sentiment that was meant for this album.
Carly Pearce Breaks Down New Album hummingbird Track by Track: Exclusive
Mary Siroky
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