Carly Pearce on Writing ‘Every Little Thing': ‘I Cried, But It Was Good. It Was Liberating’
Carly Pearce's "Every Little Thing" is one of those songs you instantly recognize, from the moment you hear the piano notes. That's exactly what Pearce was dreaming of when she wrote it.
Inspired by a devastating breakup, it took two years for Pearce to work up the courage to put her pain to paper, but it was a therapeutic process she knew she’d come around to.
“I wrote it right out of my story," she says honestly. "I was in a relationship that I would say was the first true love that I had and it fell apart, and it fell apart pretty fast, and I wanted to tell my story.”
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Turning her heartbreak into music, Pearce managed to create an unembellished track comprised of a few simple chords, a soft piano and her compelling delivery. “I think I had to get to a place where I was ready to write it,” she explains. “I think I had to be ready to face it too and do justice of what I went through and actually be over it and be able to go back and revisit it.”
Completing "Every Little Thing" helped the singer get the closure she needed.“I felt like that was the moment when it really shut the door and locked it,” she says. “I cried, but it was good. It was liberating."
Fans agree, because it's so easy to put yourself in the story. Listeners are clinging to the song's raw lyrics and honesty, and many are able to identify with the singer's journey of heartbreak. Pearce admits that female artists are often told not to release ballads or heartbreak songs as debut singles, but her decision to go against the grain has established her as a breakthrough star.
“People are connecting because everybody's dealt with it," she says. "I think that this is living proof that true lyrics and country music is based on a lyric and the truth."
"Every Little Thing" is the title track off Pearce's 2017 album, out on Oct. 13.
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