Your newest female artist of the year at the ACM Awards is …Carly Pearce!
The “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” singer, 31, took home the award for female artist of the year at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on Monday.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do in the whole world, and I feel like the last couple years of my life, especially just the last years, has been the craziest thing in the world,” Pearce said as she accepted her prize. “I feel so honored just to be a female amongst all of the females that I love so much.”
Carly Pearce.Ethan Miller/Getty
After thanking her record label, her management company and country radio, she thanked her fans.
“You guys have let me tell my truth, and I feel like you’ve found your truth inside of my songs, and I just…I want you to know that country music is everything to me and I just love you guys so much,” she said. “God bless you guys. Mom and Dad, I did it! Thank you guys!”
Check out PEOPLE’s full ACM Awards coverage to get the latest news on one of country music’s biggest nights.
Speaking in the press room following her win, Pearce said “so many of my heroes have won this award.”
“The last year has blown my mind. It’s really hard to put into words what it means, but I think, I hope that this industry and the genre knows that country music is all I’ve ever wanted,” she said. “I have always dreamt of this moment and I will never ever take that for granted. And I think just going down as one of the women that won this is just the most special, sacred thing that I will ever — I will cherish this forever.”
Pearce, who had four nominations heading into the night, released her acclaimed LP29:Written in Stonelast fall, with the album’s lyrics chronicling her painfuldivorce from fellow singer Michael Rayafter eight months of marriage.
“I have accepted what has happened to me in my life, and I’m moving on,” Pearce, who co-wrote all 15 tracks,told PEOPLE in September. “What you hear in this project is every stage of a relationship ending, the realization, the grief, the anger, the confusion … I’m very much a situational writer, and as soon as I could see all of these songs, I saw the pieces that they represented, and I felt like it was finished.”
Carly Pearce.Mindy Small/WireImage
The singer, 31, added that the album’s success — and subsequent award show wins — continue to be surprising for her.
“You can see with every accolade, I almost pee my pants,” she said, “because I can’t believe that it’s happening. But I will say that if you would’ve told me this was what was going to follow the hardest part of my life, I couldn’t have fathomed all of this happening in a calendar year.”
source: people.com
