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The 65th Annual Grammy Awards were held on Feb. 5 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. At the 2023 Grammy Awards, Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde won Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.” In the virtual media center, Showbiz Cheat Sheet had the chance to talk to Pearce after her Grammy win.

Carly Pearce smiles and holds up a Grammy Awards
Carly Pearce | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Carly Pearce ‘fell in love’ with Ashley McBryde’s ‘voice’

Following her win during the Grammys Premiere Ceremony, Pearce stopped by the press room to take questions from reporters. From the virtual media center, Showbiz asked Pearce about her collaboration with McBryde.

“If you know anything about my music, you know that I am a big fan of collaborations. I really, really love getting to collaborate with my peers. And quite honestly, I fell in love with Ashley’s voice sitting next to her at a radio show where we had to play next to each other,” Pearce explained.

She continued, “And I just called her and asked her if she’d write a song with me. This is the first time that I’ve ever written the song with the artist that I performed it with. So that felt very special.”

How ‘Never Wanted to Be That Girl’ was made

Speaking with Showbiz, Pearce expanded on what it was like working on “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” with McBryde

“We wrote it with my producer, Shane McAnally, one of my producers, And it was just a really honest conversation that day. And Ashley was willing to go there in the spirit of what I was kind of going through in my life. And she too found herself in a situation like this. And we just tried to write something real,” Pearce shared.

Standing in the press room, the country singer admitted that “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” surpassed “any expectation” she had.

“And I remember thinking it was special, but it has absolutely exceeded any expectation that I ever had for a song. But it just, it will forever be one of my favorite moments in a room where we just wrote a really great song and recorded it with an acoustic guitar and just thought, ‘Wow, that feels like something,'” Pearce told Showbiz.

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Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde got their first Grammy win

“Never Wanted to Be That Girl” tells the story of two women who find out a man is cheating on them both. Pearce and McBryde’s win for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” gave each singer her first Grammy win.

Pearce and McBryde ended up beating multiple big names in country music, including Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Luke Combs, and Miranda Lambert. The complete list of nominees for the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category can be viewed below.

Best Country Duo/Group Performance:

  • “Wishful Drinking,” Ingrid Andress & Sam Hunt
  • “Midnight Rider’s Prayer,” Brothers Osborne
  • “Outrunnin’ Your Memory,” Luke Combs & Miranda Lambert
  • “Does He Love You – Revisited,” Reba McEntire & Dolly Parton
  • “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde
  • “Going Where The Lonely Go,” Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

The complete list of winners from the 2023 Grammy Awards can be viewed here.

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