Carly Pearce‘s latest single is a collaboration with Lee Brice titled “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” Carly co-wrote the song and has been very open about the fact that it was based on her real-life break-up with a person she’d been dating for years when she realized she hadn’t been in love with him for quite some time.

The song has reached #3 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and #2 on the Mediabase/Country Aircheck chart for this week. It has a definite possibility to become her next #1 single.

However, Carly wasn’t trying to capitalize on his pain. She says, “My first little thing out to social media (when I released the song), at the very end of it I say, ‘You know who you are, and truly I hope you’re happy now.’ And my mom called me immediately and she was like, ‘What are you doing?!’”

The songwriter in Carly had to explain to her mom, who is also her best friend, that she wasn’t trying to exploit her ex by telling their story, but at the same time, she said, “I’m also trying to write my story and write what has happened to me, and sometimes people become victims of our songs. But that’s the only way that I know how to tell a story.’

Carly has not spoken to her ex since they broke up, and she says writing “I Hope You’re Happy Now” and releasing it, “Honestly, it’s the closest way that I can get to them to just say, I genuinely hope you’re happy now.”

Listen for “I Hope You’re Happy Now” by Carly Pearce featuring Lee Brice on Bloomington-Normal’s #1 Country, B104.

Do you think songs written about an ex exploits their pain?

By: Buck Stevens