Carly Pearce Reveals Why Her New Album Doesn't Include a Big Romantic Love Song With Michael Ray

When Carly Pearce drops her self-titled sophomore album on Friday, Feb. 14, the record will include a duet with her husband, Michael Ray. The song, "Finish Your Sentences," which Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini both co-wrote, was actually sent to Pearce when she was in the beginning stages of her relationship with Ray, and was the perfect song to celebrate their new marriage, even if it isn't a big, romantic ballad.

"Scott Borchetta and Thomas Rhett actually sent me that song when I was on the road, and we had just started dating," Pearce recalled to Nash Country Daily. "They were like, 'We want you to sing this with your new boyfriend.' I was like, 'Well, no, because what if we break up?' But we listened to it. I took out the fact that Thomas and Kelsea had written it, but it was just this really interesting –– I had never heard anybody finish each other's sentences in a duet.

"It really did embody that stage of dating and falling in love that was happening during the making of this record," she continued. "And so, when we knew we were going to be together, I was like, 'You have to be a part of this record.' It was so fun. We put our vocals on it.'"

"Finish Your Sentences" might not be a swoon-worthy ballad, but Pearce hints there are plenty of those songs coming, from both of them, on future projects.

"This is the first introduction; I didn't want it to be some heavy love song," said Pearce. "I wanted it to be fun because that is the stage [we're in]. We'll have our moments of singing 'It's Your Love' or those big ballads, 'When I Said I Do,' and things like that. But this just really did embody what that first stage was for us."

Pearce began working on her new record while falling in love with Ray, which is why it would have felt disingenuous to do anything but a song like "Finish Your Sentences."

"I really wanted this song to be exactly what happened when we started dating," Pearce told PopCulture.com. "I'm so literal with my songs, and with the way that I put together albums. When we were making this album, that's what was going on. It was the fun, flirtatious, dating side of falling in love. So when I heard that song, I was like 'There it is.'"

Photo Credit: Getty / Robby Klein