Carly Pearce on her "mind-blowing year" and how country music helped her through tough times: "I am the most happiest now"

Country singer Carly Pearce opened herself to the world and made a name for herself in 2021. 

She's one of country music's biggest stars — winning a Country Music Association Award for Female Vocalist of the Year and two Academy of Country Music Awards for her hit duet with Lee Brice, "I Hope You're Happy Now." 

"This is the most mind-blowing year I have had in my entire life. I am the most happiest now," Pearce told "CBS Mornings."

Her acclaimed album "29: Written in Stone" was named one of Rolling Stone magazine's top albums of the year. That album came at a time when Pearce was going through a divorce and found herself feeling lost.

"I turned to writing music in a time where I didn't know what else to do. Country music has always been the thing that made me feel the most understood and during that time of my life I wrote this album in real-time and it's the album that I feel like has really made people see me as a human being and see that we all go through things," she said.

She said that while it was hard to detail such difficult moments, she is somebody who "doesn't shy away from their truth." 

Pearce's road to country stardom has been years in the making. She got a record deal from Sony early in her career but lost the deal shortly after. 

To make ends meet, Pearce said she cleaned Airbnbs, worked in retail and was a backup singer for a while. She said these jobs were the only way she could make her own schedule and focus on her music. 

For eight years, she says she was told no — told that she would never make it, that she would never be a star. But she never gave up on her dream.

"Every single day when I would think 'Oh, I should give up,' there was one little thing that made me keep going and I am so glad I did," she said.