Makin’ Tracks: Carly Pearce’s ‘Next Girl’ Turns Personal Heartbreak Into an Energetic Single
Pearce married Ray a year ago — on Oct. 6, 2019, to be exact — at the peak of a high-profile romance that occurred while her Lee Brice duet, “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” was on its way to becoming her biggest single to date. The joy of that moment was shadowed by the death of her producer, busbee (Maren Morris, Lady A), which brought both grief and a creative issue: Nothing else on her self-titled sophomore album had the ’90s vibe that “Hope You’re Happy” maintained, and she felt she needed to cement the direction that single had led her.
“I had to have a really big ‘come to Jesus’ with myself and go, ‘Do you have something on this album that follows it up correctly?’ And also, ‘Do you have a song that you identify with?’ ” remembers Pearce. “I didn’t, and I have a
