Over spring break, country music’s Carly Pearce released “hummingbird: no rain, no flowers” as the deluxe edition of her critically-acclaimed fourth studio record, “hummingbird.” The new edition of the album includes three never-before-heard tracks and two live Vevo performances of songs from the album’s original tracklist.
A project centered around the healing process, “hummingbird” follows Pearce’s very public and very controversial divorce from fellow country music star Michael Ray, as well as her Country Music Association Awards-nominated album “29: Written in Stone.”
In the album’s initial run, there are 14 songs that are built on clever wordplay and classic country instrumentation, most noteworthy being a fiddle that strategically sounds like a hummingbird flapping its wings in key points throughout the record.
Without the deluxe additions, “hummingbird” works beautifully and masterfully. With the new tracks, a further layer of heartbreak recovery is introduced seamlessly, deepening an already emotionally intense and immersive record.
The first new track on “no rain, no flowers” is “if looks could kill,” and it has big shoes to fill being an immediate follow-up to the “hummingbird” title track. However, “if looks could kill” does exactly what it needs to do by reopening the wound listeners thought was permanently closed in “hummingbird.”
In “if looks could kill,” the singer introduces the “hurts again” stage by exploring her experience seeing the ex-lover she thought she moved on from, which causes a metaphorical murder of her healing process.
For me, this cements the necessity of the deluxe tracks, as it emphasizes that healing is not linear, and just when we think we are all remedied, we fall back.
And when we fall, we sometimes fall “heart first.”
Pearce wrote “heart first” — but never released it — during the “29” era. It was repurposed for the “hummingbird” narrative, and it really shows in the lyrics. The song centers around the idea that one’s head and their heart do not always have complimentary objectives.
“Swore I knew on that very first night / Head couldn’t have told me no different if it tried / Had that all-in tunnel vision, didn’t think it through / Yeah I only saw what I wanted to,” Pearce sings in the second verse, affirming the idea that her heart was in total control, and she was disregarding her head’s plea to get out.
The song, “heart first,” is stark for the listener; it is vulnerable and honest, like the remainder of “29: Written in Stone,” and I think incorporating it into “hummingbird” furthers the notion that we can, indeed, fall heart first.
Alone, “if looks could kill” and “heart first” would have soured the final spark of peace that the standard “hummingbird” album ends on. Thankfully, Pearce follows them up with another new track — “no rain.”
The semi-title track of the deluxe edition, “no rain,” is one of Pearce’s best not just on “hummingbird” but in her entire discography. Where “hummingbird” is almost exclusively about moving on from a romantic relationship, “no rain” broadens that idea and is about the necessity of encountering lows in life to reach and appreciate the highs.
The opening verse alone should make it a contender for song of the year come award season with, “I got a tattoo cross on my left arm / When love was easy and life wasn’t hard / Hard seeing black ink when it gets too dark.” This is a tragically relatable line and painful reminder to treasure everything life throws our way.
After that, “oklahoma” — a track from earlier in the record where Pearce wittily shares she “… might be in Oklahoma / but (she’s) not OK” — is revisited via live Vevo performance that brings it to a whole new level of country.
On its own, “oklahoma” is a good song, but Pearce’s raw, emotional vocals and the stripped-back production really help its reintroduction reach new heights.
Pearce ends the extension of “hummingbird” with a live Vevo performance of “things I don’t chase” — a standout track from the standard album where Pearce tells her leaving lover “I’m gonna sit here” as he rides away.
This reprise of “things I don’t chase” is a powerful and appropriate exit to Pearce’s healing “hummingbird” era, and it is a poignant reminder to listeners that they, too, should be prepared to face the rain — because it is the only way to reach the flowers.
