Carly Pearce Plans to ‘Keep Certain Things More Private’ in the Future

Carly Pearce made headlines earlier this year when she filed for divorce from husband Michael Ray after eight months of marriage, much of which was publicized on both Pearce and Ray’s social media accounts. Speaking to Kelleigh Bannen on The Kelleigh Bannen Show on Apple Music Country, Pearce opened up about life in the public eye and shared that she is planning to approach certain aspects of her life differently in the future.

“Since I started making music at this level, my first song was so personal and I think it showed me that we’re all humans and we all go through the same things,” Pearce said, referencing her breakout hit “Every Little Thing.” “And I almost feel like sometimes being vulnerable and being real and being a human being, because a lot of people see our lives as kind of almost not real at times. And just to kind of bring it back, humble pie and be like, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m just like you.’”

“I think that is a part of my narrative that I want to keep moving towards and going into,” she continued. “However, I do think I’ve learned some lessons through the last few years of maybe to keep certain things more private, maybe not exploit every aspect of your life too quickly.”

Pearce and Ray’s divorce was reported in June, eight months after they married in October. The couple became engaged in December 2018, just months after they began dating in summer 2018. “I think when you go through some of the public parts that I’ve had to go through recently, sure, I wish I could run away and hide from some of that,” Pearce told Bannen.” “It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.”

In the months since her divorce, the 30-year-old has experienced career success, including four CMA nominations (which were announced last week). On Friday, Pearce released her new single, the twangy warning song “Next Girl.”

“I feel like if you believe in you and you choose to do what’s best for you and you just continue to pour into the people that you love and work hard and believe in you, it’s amazing how a few short months can completely 360,” she said. “And I will tell you it has done that for me. It has 360-ed, not one 180-ed, 360-ed and gone, ‘Oh, I’m okay. I’m okay. And I’m excited. And I’m excited for music.’ And I feel like country music, I’ve always run to country music when I’m sad, and more than ever I ran to it during this time full-speed and it gave me what I needed.”