Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde.
An absolute powerhouse duo if I’ve ever seen one, I mean, are there two more promising, rising stars in the genre right now?
They’re teaming up on Carly’s phenomenal new ballad “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” the next single from her upcoming album 29: Written In Stone.
Written by Carly, Ashley and Shane McAnally, it’s a good old fashioned cheatin’ song where the girls go back and forth realizing they’re both being cheated on by the same guy and admitting that they never thought something like that would happen to them.
It reminds me of Reba and Linda Davis’ 90’s hit “Does He Love You,” and Ashley and Carly sound absolutely amazing together here. Their vocals are off the charts.
According to Carly, nobody every thinks it’ll happen to them, and Ashley was the perfect partner for the job:
“Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them. You never see it coming, but there’s always an explanation.
You know, who’d ever want to think that way about someone they love. Why would you? And so, that’s where this song started: the things you don’t see, because you’d never look.
Ashley is such a great drop-into-the-moment writer, she was able to bring that reality bomb truth to what we were doing.
She’s fearless, and she understands human nature in a way that let us both really write to the hurt of realizing we’ve been lied to by someone we’re intimate with.”
Ashley added:
“Carly isn’t afraid to face the less potable subjects. As a writer she’s willing to get in there and get very honest. Writing this song together with Shane strengthened our friendship and taught us more about one another and ourselves.
Seriously, nobody wants to be the other woman. And when you find you are … damn. It’s such a gut punch.”
Here’s a look at the chorus:
I never wanted to be that girl
I never wanted to hate myself
I thought this kind of lonely
Only happens to somebody else
Being the other one when there’s another one
God, this feels like hell
I thought I knew who I was
But it’s getting hard to tell
I never wanted to be that girl”
Carly released her 29 EP earlier this year, and we’ve also gotten to hear one of the new songs from the full-length album already called “Dear Miss Loretta”.
After a pretty public divorce from fellow country music singer Michael Ray in 2020, which later inspired the 29 EP, Carly has taken her music to another level with this new batch of songs in terms of vulnerability and meaning.
Last month, she was officially inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and I have a feeling this is just the beginning for her.
29: Written In Stone is set to be released this Friday and I cannot WAIT.
29: Written In Stone Tracklist:
1. “Diamondback” | Carly Pearce, Kelsea Ballerini, Tofer Brown, Shane McAnally
2. “What He Didn’t Do” | Carly Pearce, Ashley Gorley, Emily Shackelton
3. “Easy Going” | Carly Pearce, Natalie Hemby, Josh Osborne
4. “Dear Miss Loretta” (featuring Patty Loveless) | Carly Pearce, Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally
5. “Next Girl” | Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
6. “Should’ve Known Better” | Carly Pearce, Jordan Reynolds, Emily Shackelton
7. “29” | Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
8. “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” (featuring Ashley McBryde) | Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Ashley McBryde
9. “Your Drinkin’, My Problem” | Carly Pearce, Nicolle Galyon, Sasha Sloan, Ben West
10. “Liability” | Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
11. “Messy” | Carly Pearce, Sarah Buxton, Jimmy Robbins
12. “Show Me Around” | Carly Pearce, Emily Shackelton, Ben West
13. “Day One” | Carly Pearce, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Matthew Ramsey
14. “All The Whiskey In The World” | Carly Pearce, Jordan Terry Minton, Jordan Reynolds, Emily Shackelton
15. “Mean It This Time” | Carly Pearce, Jordan Terry Minton, Jordan Reynolds, Emily Shackelton
