New year, new music.
Last night, Carly Pearce shared part of an unreleased tune on Instagram seemingly titled “Church Girl,” which finds her contending with the fire and brimstone kind of preaching that you sometimes hear in church. I think many of us who have grown up in a religious household and in the church, especially in the south, probably know exactly what she’s talking about here. And speaking for myself, as a Christian who grew up going to church multiple days a week, it’s not uncommon to see church folks get really wrapped up in this guilt-driven legalism… don’t drink, smoke, don’t cuss, don’t watch R-rated movies… or you’re going to Hell.
Of course, the opposite of that spectrum can be a slippery slope into license (everything is fine because God forgives), but this is why the context matters, and good, Biblical teaching is so important. I am in no way saying that church is bad, or pastors and elders are bad, or even Christians… quite the opposite in most cases,. But bad, fear-driven teaching can do a lot of harm, turn people away from the faith forever, and I’ve never heard a songwriter address the idea of religious judgement, for lack of a better term, in this way.
Before singing the song, Carly stated simply:
“I think the world could use a little more love and acceptance, and a whole lot less judgment.”
Amen to that…
She comes out swinging, explaining that just because someone might go out on the weekends or smoke a little weed from time to time, that doesn’t mean they’re going straight to hell, as some people probably believe or have been taught:
“Just cause you like to get high,
When you talk to Jesus,
So you love who you love,
And you go out on the weekends,
So you drink, and you think for yourself,
That don’t mean you go to hell,
When you leave this world,
Just cause you heard it in church, girl”
I know I can always count on her to write from her heart and speak her mind, and Carly simply doesn’t miss:
Back in November, Carly released a new song called “Dream Come True,” where she takes a very honest look in the mirror, evaluating her life at 35-years-old, wondering if all of the sacrifices she’s made to make her country music dreams come true have been worth everything she’s given up in return.
It’s the first single Carly has put out since releasing her hummingbird project in 2024, and it sounds like it’s going to be the lead single from a forthcoming album, so we have that to look forward to sometime this year I think.
Carly wrote “Dream Come True” alongside Lauren Hungate, Tofer Brown, and Emily Weisband, and the first verse is cutting, where she really confronts the fact that she bought a house on a cul-de-sac that has four bedrooms, but she only uses one. She knows a million girls would love to be in her shoes, but when it comes to missing things like her best friends wedding, reality sets in that maybe it’s not really worth the sacrifice of those special moments:
“Dream come true
Bought me a house at the end of a cul-de-sac
Four bedrooms
But I only use one
Dream come true
Got me a gig on my best friend’s wedding day
Same old news
She knew I couldn’t come
A million girls would love to wear your shoes
You can’t complain if it’s the kind of life you choose
But nobody loves you for you
Nobody calls you if you lose your shine
Nobody tells you everything you’re gonna lose
Trying to make the dream come true”
The price of fame and success isn’t always what people think, and this song proves just how much you have to give up to get it… and sometimes you end up regretting a lot of it no matter what level you end up reaching.
Carly shared a little more about the background of the song on Instagram, saying she actually did move into a house with a cul-de-sac a few years ago, though all of the women her age were married with children and growing families, while hers felt like never-ending missed milestones, with her personal life on full display for the world to criticize:
“A few years ago, I moved into a house in a quiet cul-de-sac on my own, surrounded by women my age with husbands and growing families. It was a reminder of the quiet sacrifices that come with chasing a dream. Mine have looked like missing milestones, living with my personal life on display, and riding the highs and lows of this wild career.
I wrote this song about those sacrifices we make when chasing our dreams. If you’ve ever felt that push and pull, know that you’re not alone. Writing this song has allowed me to return to my original dream, to reconnect with my roots and why I first fell in love with singing country music.”
From this song and the aforementioned “Church Girl,” I can already tell this is going to be an incredible project, and it’s one of the albums I’m most looking forward to that’s coming out this year.
“Dream Come True”
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