This one hits home.
Carly Pearce is gearing up to release her fifth studio album Honest Woman, which will be out everywhere on August 28th. The Kentucky native has always blended traditional country elements with more modern takes on love and life, always staying true to where she comes from in the process, and this new release today is no different.
Of course, the Carly has put out several singles over the last few months, including “Church Girl,” “You Can Have Him,” and of course, her duet with Riley Green, “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay,” and she says that this album is a homecoming of sorts, as each songs tell the story that makes the woman she’s become and the “journey” that’s brought her to this point in her life and career:
“Sometimes finding yourself means finding your way back home. For me, it meant coming home…to my truth, my story, and the woman I am at my core. These songs tell that story. They hold pieces of my heart, where I come from, and the journey that brought me here. I’m so proud of this album and I can’t wait to share it with you.”
Carly had a breakout moment with her “divorce album” 29: Written in Stone in 2021, it was an incredible piece of work that once again honored her Kentucky roots and showed off her prowess with the pen, and I’ve always appreciated her ability to balance the honesty in her storytelling with the mainstream appeal while still keeping it very country.
And the final release from the forthcoming album is an absolute stunner, which Carly wrote with Lauren Hungate, Jordan Reynolds, and Emily Weisband. It’s really her saying the quiet part out loud in terms how hard it can really be internally to see your friends reaching these huge milestones in their lives while you feel like you just can’t seem to get anything right.
Of course, as she points out in the song, it’s not at all that you’re not happy for them, but it’s a king of sting unlike any other, and Carly says it’s her “favorite” song on this album:
“The last early release before ‘Honest Woman’ is finally here. ‘Happy For Myself’ is my favorite song on this album, and your stories have blown me away today. Thank you for listening, for sharing your own stories with me, and for always making me feel a little less alone in mine.”
I have to agree… I always know Carly is going to truly deliver unabashed honesty, and this is another perfect example:
Pearce opened up about the story behind the song on her “Diaries of an Honest Woman” Substack, talking about a personal experience with her close friend:
“I was genuinely happy for her. I really was. But underneath that happiness was something I didn’t want to admit out loud: When would I get to be happy for myself? Because when you’re a woman, there comes a point where everyone else’s milestones can start feeling like evidence against your own life.
Every engagement announcement. Every baby shower. Every wedding photo. They all seem to whisper the same question: ‘What’s wrong with me?’”
If you know that feeling, then you know just how isolating, and disappointing, it really is… that feels like putting it mildly.
Carly opens the song by describing the trip to the ring shop with her friend and her friend’s mom, recalling how she was so happy for her and this special time, but it was hard to get through and she did go cry in the car after:
“She took me and her mom
Down to the jewelry shop
Wanted a second opinion
Platinum or yellow gold?
There’s that lump in my throat
I helped her make that decision
And I waited to cry ’til I got in my car
Oh, how can good news be so **** hard?
It’s not that I’m not happy for everyone else
But when Do I get to be happy for myself?”
She then skips to the wedding, where she’s wearing a baby blue bridesmaids dress and giving a beautiful speech, and how she once again got through it but struggled because she felt so lost:
“I’m wearing baby blue
She’s looking at her groom
He looks at her like she’s special
Wedding cake on her cheek
I’ll give the greatest speech
Smile while I’m throwing rose petals”
She goes onto say that she just hopes she finds the same thing one day and get to be on that end of things, and honestly, it’s rare that you come across a song that is both parts unique and so truthful and true to the artist, and I think that’s what makes it so special. I don’t think there’s a woman alive who can’t relate to this song, and that’s the real magic of it… music is supposed to make you feel less alone, and this is a clinic on that.
When you name an album Honest Woman, you better come at it fully swinging and leave it all out there, so to speak, and Carly has already more than delivered on that front. It’s not easy to say the quiet part out loud, especially something so nuanced like this, and she once again proves why she’s one of the best in the business with “Happy for Myself.”
Do yourself a favor and check it out:
“Happy For Myself”
Honest Woman Track List
1. “Dream Come True”
2. “Church Girl”
3. “She Don’t”
4. “You Can Have Him”
5. “How Long”
6. “WWJD”
7. “Same Circus”
8. “Happy For Myself”
9. “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” Carly Pearce & Riley Green
10. “I Don’t Have The Heart”
11. “He Don’t Like My Dogs”
12. “Leave My Heart Alone”
13. “Who’s Lying Here” Carly Pearce & Dan Tyminski
14. “Daisy”
15. “What If You Loved Me” Carly Pearce, Molly Tuttle & Dan Tyminski
16. “Why God Why Me”