Carly Pearce recently released her newest EP 29, which is perhaps one of her most vulnerable and personal projects yet. But, in experiencing the heartbreak and realities that led the inspiration behind these songs, she's calling it "a total transformative time" for her in a new interview with iHeartRadio.

Speaking to iHeartRadio's Emily Curl, Pearce explained how she's learned a lot of lessons after turning 29. She said, "Twenty-nine was huge for me. I'm about to be 31. And, I think that what it did was it opened my eyes to a lot of things in life. And I think that we have to understand that life is always going to be this kind of ever-evolving thing. And sometimes things that maybe we thought would turn out one way, turn out another. And if you can just learn the lessons, I think that's been the biggest thing for me is like, I feel wiser because of the really hard stuff that I went through. And I feel like I chose to let it refine me instead of define me. And there'll be things that I take with me forever."

Carly also opened up about an eerie coincidence regarding late producer busbee, who the country star had previously worked with. Pearce explained that a fan had pointed out that the producer had passed away on September 29th [2019], which she didn't realize when she was writing and recording 29. She recalled, "A fan made it known to me that busbee passed away on September 29th. And I didn't know that. I mean, obviously I knew that, but I didn't think about that while doing this. And it just feels like this chapter of my life, like busbee, he's with me. And I think musically, this is the defining moment for me to go forward being exactly the artist that I always wanted to be. And I think busbee opened the door for me to be able to do that. And then I really do think I will look back at this time as like truly ... not to get overly spiritual, but sometimes we have to be broken back down into ash to be built back up beautiful. And I really do feel like this was a total transformative time for me in every way. And I'm better for it."

Elsewhere in the interview, Carly opened up about her song "Day One," which is about getting through that hard first day after a breakup or other other difficult moment. Having gone through a breakup and divorce herself, the empowering song, that she describes as a "redemption story," paints a picture of her own experience. Pearce explained, "We wanted to make that song the last song on the project for a reason. Cause I feel like it kind of is a reminder to where you have to get through that first day because it feels so overwhelming. Like there's no way I can, what do I do? You feel lost. And I remember we wrote that last verse of the song kind of how it ends. And it's clearly talking about how you can take this super tragic situation that once controlled every thought in your mind and realize I'm okay, this was somebody that I knew and it's okay. Like, I did it. And I truly was like, 'Oh my goodness.' I feel like that's where I'm at. And that's just such a redemption story for so many people. Like I felt like I couldn't take a breath on day one, and now here I sit and it's okay."

Billy Greenwood

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