ALBUM REVIEW: Carly Pearce – 29

After a tumultuous 2020, Carly Pearce has returned today with her astonishing, raw collection of songs – 29 – that bare her soul to the world. We review the astonishingly raw and vulnerable project here. 

Stream 29 everywhere here now. 

Carly Pearce has established herself in recent years as one of the brightest up and coming stars in country music, following her break-out sensational hit ‘Every Little Thing‘. Last year, was set to be a mammoth year for the star with the release of her self-titled second record, but less than a year later, she is returning with a stunningly vulnerable and raw project detailing her experience of the past years – losing her producer Busbee and the recent news of her divorce from singer Michael Ray. This project is simply Pearce’s best music yet, vulnerably and delicately expressing her heartbreak and pain, in a way that feels both universal yet deeply personal. It is an immensely courageous and raw project, rooting her songwriting in the prestigious songwriters and artists, like Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton, who went before her, couched in the 90s-style production that has been her perennial source of inspiration – collaborating with producers Shane MacAnally and Josh Osborne for the project has enabled Pearce to tell her story on her own terms, with stunning results.

The album opens with ‘Next Girl,’ a searing call to an ex-lover’s ‘Next Girl(Friend).’ It is immensely relatable and fun, but brimming with meaning – a fun and free girl-power track that sees Pearce singing out the toxins of her relationship and offering advice to the next girl, ‘Hey next girl, you think that you know better / Maybe the last girl was just a little bitter / And jaded, yeah there ain’t no doubt / But if he ever talks about the ex girl / She tried like hell, it was too late to save herself / So now she’s just trying to help the next girl.’ It’s a fiesty and powerful anthem that deserves even more than the attention that it is already garnering – a 90s country-hued girl power track. 

‘Should’ve Known Better,’ by contrast, is a plucky acoustic confessional of a track that takes the pace down a notch, revealing the painful side of the divorce and the expectations ruined. ‘I gave you my heart, you let it go to waste / You made me do the leaving and you made me take the blame / Does it make you feel good to make me feel bad / Yeah you should’ve known better, should’ve known better / Than to break what you couldn’t fix / Boy what a shame, what you’re gonna miss / Why’d you go and do what you can’t take back.’ It’s the first raw and emotional track that beckons in the tone for the rest of the project, as Pearce pours out her emotional pain and let’s it go through the lyrics.  ’29’ gets even deeper, in one of the most ‘real’ tracks to have been released in recent years, describing the curveballs of life and feeling lost in your twenties, where life does not meet up to expectations. ‘29 is the year that I got married and divorced / I held on for dear life but I still fell off the horse / From a Miss to a Mrs. then the other way around / The year I was gonna live it up / Now I’m never gonna live it down.’ It’s incredibly raw, in a way that many songwriters are often afraid to do – delving into her own emotional experience – with enough detail to make it feel authentic and personal, without being vitriolic toward her ex-husband. It’s stunningly painful and honest, with perfectly poised production that is firmly rooted in 90s country, allowing Pearce’s mature vocal to shine in all its emotional depth.

‘Liability’ and ‘Messy’ change the tone of the record for a beat. ‘Liability’ is a slow moving sway of a track that is the closest you’ll get to an indictment on the record of ‘what happened’ in Pearce’s much-publicised divorce. ‘Midnight you crawl back swearing you lost track / How can you say that with a straight face / Your phone is glowing, you say it’s no one / It’s funny no one calls me this late… Your fabricated love’s become a liability / And oh it’s killing me / How you stand there oh so confidently / Can’t believe your look-me-in-the-eye ability / Your lie ability, yeah.‘ Again the track is rooted in 90s country, reminiscent in tone of Shania Twain’s 90s hit ‘Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?’ whilst ‘Messy’ dives into the complications of the aftermath and moving on after heartbreak. ‘Messy’ is a slow and sultry track, reminiscent of an early Faith Hill. ‘Moving on is messy / It ain’t always gonna be a clean break and it’s okay / Whatever it takes these days / ‘Cause heartbreak isn’t sexy / And there ain’t no wearing it well, going through hell / So give yourself some grace / Moving on is messy.’ So too, ‘Day One’ is an honest account of the complicated journey to moving on – one that is by no means linear. ‘I know I’ll be better off alone / Give it time, broken hearts have a mind of their own / I wish I knew a way to skip over the pain but I don’t / There’s no way to say how long it’ll take / Till the damage comes undone / All I can do is try to get through day one.’ It’s easy, given the stunning depth of Pearce’s lyrics to forget how stellar her vocal is, but but both ‘Messy’ and ‘Day One’ are clear reminders of that fact. 

Just one such lyrical moment is created on ‘Show Me Around.’ It is one of the most hopeful accounts of grief and loss that we have heard, a stunning tribute to Busbee. ‘I hate how much that losing you hurts / I hope you know you left your mark on this world / And I swear that I’d give anything on this earth / To see your face but for now I’ll wait.’ It’s brimming with emotion, with a hopeful edge and is one of the most unique and powerful accounts of grief that we have heard. It is the best possible tribute to a producer that helped us all discover Pearce.

The project in its entirety reads as a manual to moving on in all its forms, the complications, the messiness and the imperfections. The vulnerability and grace that Pearce exhibits on the project is breath-taking and showcases her songwriting in a way that it hasn’t been before. There has clearly been magic unleashed through her work with Josh Osborne and Shane MacAnally that is paramountly clear throughout the collection. It is a flawless, poised and gracious account of heartbreak in all its forms and sets out a new chapter both for Pearce in her professional and personal life. The next chapter looks incredibly bright, and above all powerful and authentic.