Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde released their brand new single today – a song they wrote with Shane McAnally – called “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.” The song is a unique twist on the usual cheatin’ song, in that neither woman in the song knows they’re being cheated on, or that they’re the woman he’s cheating with. The day Carly and Ashley got together with Shane to write, the song started rather organically. “I think we discussed a couple of, not really exchanging stories about being cheated on, but some scenarios that could happen,” explains Ashley. “How does other girl meet guy? How does this happen? And I think we started with the first line. We were just talking about what if it were as innocent as needing help changing a tire because you weren’t wearing the proper clothing or you just got your nails done or whatever. To change the tire and then that dude says, ‘We should go get a beer.” You would. And if you hit it off you would keep doing it.”
As simple as that beginning sounds, it really was. Ashley says, “We just started at the top left-hand corner of the page.”
Carly, Ashley and Shane continued to write, almost in real time, as they were creating the story, according to Carly. And she adds, “For me, I felt like I was in a season with Shane where we just could all feel in the room what kind of thing we were gonna write, and it just kinda was the matter of landing on the right way to do it.”
And just as the story unfolds for the listener as they listen to “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” Ashley says, “We didn’t know exactly how the story was gonna turn out. We just kinda found out as we wrote it.”
The one thing Carly and Ashley did know before they started writing the song with Shane, is that they didn’t want to write a 2021 version of a song that had already been done. “We had the option to kind of just refresh a ‘Does He Love You’ kind of a thing,” says Ashley. “We also thought about Lee Ann Womack’s ‘I’m a Fool in Love With The Fool,’ which is a fantastic song. There’s no way I could’ve refreshed that and made it better than one of those.”
Carly is proud of “Never Wanted to be That Girl” because it takes a different approach to an age old situation. “I think what we’ve kind of landed on is something that’s unique in the fact that two women who never meet are getting burned by the same man, and having the exact same feelings,” says Carly. “And we intentionally kept the chorus the same.”
In the song, both women are innocent and have no idea their man is playing them for a fool. Ashley points out, “They don’t confront each other, which is an option when you’re writing the song. You know, ‘Hey, I’m the other woman,’ or ‘Hey, I’m the wife,’ or the girlfriend. And we thought, well what if we don’t call him a piece of crap? And what if we don’t call each other a piece of crap at all, or how dare you take something from me.”
For Carly, the storyline works because she says, “It comes back to the fact that it’s not about the other one. She didn’t know. (Right.) She didn’t know that there was another one.”
“Never Wanted to Be That Girl” will be featured on Carly Pearce’s new album, 29: Written in Stone, which will be available this Friday wherever music is streamed or sold. But you can listen to the song now wherever you stream or download music.
Carly & Ashley – how Never Be Girl started :51
Ashley McBryde – “I think we discussed a couple of, not really exchanging stories about being cheated on, but some scenarios that could happen. How does other girl meet guy? How does this happen? And I think we started with the first line. We were just talking about what if it were as innocent as needing help changing a tire because you weren’t wearing the proper clothing or you just got your nails done or whatever. To change the tire and then that dude says, ‘We should go get a beer.” You would. And if you hit it off you would keep doing it. So, we just started at the top left-hand corner of the page.”
Carly Pearce – “ I know, right? We kind of wrote it as it was going in real time. (Yeah.) And, you know, for me, I felt like I was in a season with Shane where we just could all feel in the room what kind of thing we were gonna write, and it just kinda was the matter of landing on the right way to do it.”
Ashley – “We didn’t know exactly how the story was gonna turn out. We just kinda found out as we wrote it.”
Carly and Ashley – twist on cheatin’ song :54
Ashley McBryde – “Well, we had the option to kind of just refresh a ‘Does He Love You’ kind of a thing. We also thought about Lee Ann Womack’s ‘I’m a Fool in Love With The Fool,’ which is a fantastic song. There’s no way I could’ve refreshed that and made it better than one of those.”
Carly Pearce – “I think what we’ve kind of landed on is something that’s unique in the fact that two women who never meet are getting burned by the same man, and having the exact same feelings. And we intentionally kept the chorus the same.”
Ashley – “The same, yeah. And they don’t confront each other, which is an option when you’re writing the song. You know, hey, I’m the other woman, or hey, I’m the wife or the girlfriend. And we thought, well what if we don’t call him a piece of crap? And what if we don’t call each other a piece of crap at all, or how dare you take something from me. These two had just realized that they’re exhibiting behaviors that they wouldn’t normally, and it’s because of the same person.”
Carly – “But it does, it comes back to the fact that it’s not about the other one. She didn’t know. (Right.) she didn’t know that there was another one.”