Carly Pearce is moving on and sharing what she's learned.
Pearce released the deluxe version of her 2024 album hummingbird this month called hummingbird: no rain, no flowers. The new edition rounds out this chapter of Pearce's life with five new tracks.
"I just felt like there was a little bit left to the story before I kind of seal up this chapter in my life," Pearce told American Songwriter. "These three songs are really important to me and very special to my story. They felt like they deserved a little moment in this season of healing before going into my next chapter."
With the fresh recordings, hummingbird: no rain, no flowers is 19 songs long. Three of the five additions are new songs. The other two are live recordings of "oklahoma" and "things i don't chase" from a Vevo session. Studio versions of the live songs are on the original version of hummingbird. Pearce co-produced the album alongside Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, who helmed her, 29. She co-wrote 18 of the 19 songs.
The new songs -- "if looks could kill," "heart first" and "no rain" -- are emotionally raw continued accounts of her healing journey. Pearce and fellow country singer Michael Ray were married for eight months before divorcing in 2020. Pearce has had two public relationships since then, one with real estate agent Riley King and another with her drummer B.C. Taylor.
"I think that there's a lot of realization over the last five years for me, not just on hummingbird, but just the last five years," she said. "There's been a lot of growth, and a lot of understanding in my story as to why certain things have happened to me. There's a finality and a closure that I didn't get from anybody but myself. I think that's a really incredible, hard, painful, confusing, beautiful place to get to."
Pearce co-wrote "if looks could kill" with Emily Shackelton and Jimmy Robbins. In the song, Pearce sees an ex-partner moving on with a new love. Seeing the way he looks at his new girlfriend hurts Pearce's heart.
Lyrics include: And if looks could kill, I'd be pushing up daisies| Watching you over there calling her baby| Putting on a show to see| Like you know looking at you's killing me
Pearce co-wrote "heart first" with Shackelton and Ben West, which is about only seeing the most optimistic view of the future when she falls in love with someone.
Lyrics include: But when you fall, you fall heart first| And when you hit the ground, it hurts| Wish there was another way| Without the crash and burn| That I could learn
"no rain," which Pearce co-wrote with Jordan Reynolds, Lauren Hungate, and Emily Weisband, is about how surviving challenging circumstances makes you a stronger person.
Lyrics include: No low, no high, no wrong, no right| No break, no fixing, no lose, no winning| May might bring showers, but no rain, no flowers
Five years post-divorce, Pearce believes she's through the rain and entering her flowers era. She learned she had to make the journey on her own.
"If you're looking for another person to do it for you, you won't find it," she said. "I think you have to really understand. You have to find happiness for yourself. You have to understand what you deserve and your worth. And if you know a situation is bad, walk away. That's your closure."
Pearce said she hopes her fans listen to this album and realize that they, like she, can go through hard times and be better for them.
"There is light at the end of the tunnel," Pearce said. "Getting to play some of these new songs live on the road has shown me that we are all going through the same things in life, and we all need to feel sunshine after the storm."