Carly Pearce Braces Herself For CMA Night And Five Nominations

Carly Pearce is the reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. When she won last year, she was so overwhelmed that she barely made it to the microphone to give her acceptance speech. She had to collect herself before she could speak. So now that she has won already once, she's calmer about the honor, but she still wants to win again.

Carly told us, "Would I be lying if I said I didn't wanna win it again? Of course. I think that over the last few years, I've had such huge jumps in my career that I think that moment, in particular, did make me believe that anything is possible."

She added, "And so, I think just as I go into this awards season, but also just as I continue to think about what goals in the next 1 to 5 years do I want to see happen, I do believe because of that, I think I can do anything. So, just to even see my name, and I'll be honest, every year you hold your breath. There's so many great females, especially right now, in our business, and just because I'm the Female Vocalist of the Year right now doesn't mean that I was guaranteed a nomination. So, just to get the nomination was really special, and I have to remind myself of that."

Besides being nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Pearce has four additional CMA Awards nominations for "Never Wanted to Be That Girl," the song she wrote and recorded with Ashley McBryde, for Single, Song, Musical Event, and Music Video of the Year.

Carly looks back to the very day she asked Ashley if she wanted to write a song together. She offered, "In that room that day, we went in there, and it just naturally went into us both coming together, writing something authentic, wanting to write a duet together. I think having a song where we wrote it truly for our two voices to have a conversation. Then to see the way that it has connected, the records that it has broken just for a female collaboration, along with Miranda and Elle King."

She continued, "This is coming off of the most personal album I think I'll ever make, so obviously, this song was part of my story. To now see fans sharing stories with me of how this song has made them not feel alone, it just is the most full circle moment. And then to see all those nominations, and for Ashley and I to be two of the most nominated artists of the show is just… You know, all I do is try to write a perspective of how I see the world and what's happening to me, and to see it continue to get recognized the way that it does is the greatest thing that you could have as an artist. "

In addition to being nominated for five CMA Awards, Pearce will perform twice on the show. She'll sing "Dear Miss Loretta," her tribute song to Loretta Lynn off her 29: Written in Stone album, then she'll join Kelsea Ballerini and Kelly Clarkson to sing "You're Drunk, Go Home," their collaboration on Kelsea's new album.

The 56th Annual CMA Awards will air live from Nashville Wednesday, November 9, at 8 PM ET on ABC.

Carly Pearce celebrates her 30th birthday in quarantine today (4/24) during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Having just released her sophomore self-titled album on Valentine's Day (2/14/20), Carly, like most artists, has been itching to get back out on tour to play songs from her new project for fans.

To celebrate her big day, we take a look at Carly on stage and on the red carpet over her years in country music.