'Church Girl' by Carly Pearce – Lyrics & Meaning

This year seems set to be Carly Pearce's. She came into 2026 riding high on the release of her quickly lauded single, 'Dream Come True', and has just unleashed another dose of new music. Could a follow-up to 2024's hummingbird be in the works? Well, here's hoping.

Before that potential news, however, comes 'Church Girl'. The open-hearted new tune has arrived at, what feels like, precisely the right time. The encouraging song finds the star exposing past struggles with her belief and belonging, all to help listeners wade through others' expectations and truly find themselves on the other side.

From the start, 'Church Girl' is bright and pensive. Crystalline strings – a trickling of buoyant plucks and a showering of stuttering strums – lay the groundwork. Soon, a delicate powdering of gentle rhythms and cry of emotive steel join the mix.

The composition is layered at moments and pared back when it needs to be, allowing Pearce's earnest message to come through clearly.

"Hey, church girl doin’ everything wrong
Walking on eggshells with your high heels on
Hey, church girl with the Jezebel dress
Better take it off, you’re making all the boys think sex
You got your questions but you’re too scared to ask
I’m just a sinner who’s been where you’re at"

In the past, Carly Pearce has been open about her Christian faith and the ways in which her beliefs have guided her throughout her life. With 'Church Girl', though, she boldly exposes the realities that some people – here, she's singing of women specifically – face when trying to find their way in religion.

She sings of young women being criticized for their choice of dress, having to walk on eggshells as to not disrupt the status quo, and being too scared to speak up or ask for a guiding light for fear of being ridiculed further.

Unfortunately, judgements tend to be passed onto those that don't fit into the idealized "molds" of Christianity. What are considered "gender roles" and "family values" within the Christian religion tend to skew God's teachings, fueling prejudices that lend to homophobia, misogyny, sexism, and overall alienation and othering within the Church.

While it is a religion that teaches love, acceptance, and kindness above all, that doesn't always translate. Pearce, however, is here with her own message:

"So, you like to get high
When you talk to Jesus
So, you love who you love
And you go out on the weekends
So, you drink, and you think for yourself
That don’t mean you’ll go to hell
When you leave this world
Just ‘cause you heard it in church, girl"

In 'Church Girl', Pearce celebrates the traits and actions that Christianity might see and pick apart. So what if you're a drinker, a smoker, a lover of whoever you want to love. You're not forsaken and your soul is not damned because of those things. Because she has been in those very shoes, the artist attempts to help listeners bask in a heavenly kind of grace devoid of shame or conditions.

In the song, she proudly shares what she believes are the true tenants of her faith, showcasing a forgiving and unflinching love. It's that that holds her close and gets her through the everyday, not the opinions of others.

"And I’ve heard what you’ve heard, girl
Read every bible verse, girl
If God is who he says he is
Then I don’t think you’re cursed, girl"

Hey, church girl doin’ everything wrong
Walking on eggshells with your high heels on
Hey, church girl with the Jezebel dress
Better take it off, you’re making all the boys think sex
You got your questions but you’re too scared to ask
I’m just a sinner who’s been where you’re at

So, you like to get high
When you talk to Jesus
So, you love who you love
And you go out on the weekends
So, you drink, and you think for yourself
That don’t mean you’ll go to hell
When you leave this world
Just ‘cause you heard it in church, girl

Hey, church girl wearing all that guilt
Just ‘cause you didn’t wait don’t mean it wasn’t real
You turn up a song that isn’t Amazing Grace
They say that you’re hopeless
But that just ain’t the case

So, you like to get high
When you talk to Jesus
So, you love who you love
And you go out on the weekends
So, you drink, and you think for yourself
That don’t mean you’ll go to hell
When you leave this world
Just ‘cause you heard it in church, girl

And I’ve heard what you’ve heard, girl
Read every bible verse, girl
If God is who he says he is
Then I don’t think you’re cursed, girl

Just ‘cause you like to get high
When you talk to Jesus
So, you love who you love
And you go out on the weekends
So, you drink, and you think for yourself
That don’t mean you’ll go to hell
When you leave this world
Just ‘cause you heard it in church, girl

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Carly Pearce

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