Carly Pearce Opens Up About The Brutal Things She Was Told By Record Labels Before She Signed A Deal, & It’s Honestly Infuriating

The country music industry has never exactly been known for being gentle. But Carly Pearce just reminded us that sometimes, it’s not just brutal, it’s downright tasteless.

Pearce posted a new TikTok today that’s got a lot of folks talking. In it, she cracks open a bottle of wine and runs through a list of things she was told before she got her first record deal. And honestly, if we’d been told some of this stuff, we’d be finishing that bottle too.

She starts off by telling us she got signed to a label eight years ago, which means most of these conversations happened a decade back or more That might sound like a long time ago, but let’s be honest, when it comes to the music industry, not much has changed.

Let’s break it down.

“I once played for a label head who told me I’d never be a star.”

Talk about bold. And also… wildly wrong. This is the kind of take that should automatically disqualify someone from being in charge of anything music-related. Carly Pearce not being a star? Please. Then again, someone told Luke Combs the same thing so the track record is NOT good…

“After they heard 5 songs with ‘Every Little Thing’ on it, they said I did not have any songs that were special.”

Well, “Every Little Thing” currently has over 248 million streams on Spotify. If that’s not special, we don’t know what is. It practically launched her career, and clearly connected with millions of fans. Maybe these execs should listen with their ears, not their spreadsheets…

“I was told that I was ‘outdated’ because I sang country music.”

This one really stings. According to Pearce, this was during the bro-country era, which explains a lot. The same folks pushing trucks and tailgates thought singing actual country music was a liability. Imagine telling a girl from Kentucky singing country songs that she was too country. It’s giving 2014 music row blindness.

“I took a job working for Lucy Hale as a backup singer and was told that was going to kill my career.”

Instead, Pearce says it gave her fans. Wild how that works. Taking a paying job in music, honing your craft, building a following, and somehow that’s supposed to be the wrong move?

“I was told that I was old news because I lived in Nashville for 8 years and everyone knew who I was.”

Right. Because being a seasoned, respected voice in the scene is… bad? This one’s just lazy. If everyone knows who you are, maybe it’s time they started paying attention. They don’t call Nashville a “10-year town” for nothing, right?

Carly wrapped the TikTok with a note of encouragement, reminding people that dreams can happen overnight, and that sometimes they take years of hard work leading up to that one breakthrough. And honestly, it probably should take some years of hard work to become a star… figuring out who you are as an artist, getting experience performing, navigating the ups and downs that come with chasing a dream… it all only serves to benefit you in the long run.

These days, Pearce has over 3.3 million monthly Spotify listeners and a growing stack of awards. She’s continuously regarded as one of the most talented and most authentic acts in mainstream country music. So if you’re out there grinding and running into execs who don’t get it, don’t let them break you. Keep going. Carly Pearce did, and now those same people who told her she’d never make it? They’ve probably got some regrets…