Carly Pearce marked her birthday this year by releasing “You Can Have Him,” a playful country song she said was meant as a gift to the fans who have backed her through the last couple months of singles. The track arrives after “Church Girl” and her duet with Riley Green, “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna S,” as she continues to tease her fifth studio album.
Pearce wrote the song with Tofer Brown, Carter Faith and Lauren Hungate, and produced it with Ben West. In the release, she described it as “a fun one I wrote for the girls,” and as “a lighthearted and playful homage” to her Kentucky roots and the traditional songs she grew up hearing on the Grand Ole Opry. That sounds exactly right on the record, which leans into Kentucky twang, steel guitar, bass, fiddle and dobro while she sings about a man who likes blondes, brunettes and redheads and has had about four tequilas.
“Surprise! My fans have done so much for me that for my birthday this year, I wanted to give something back to them,” Pearce said. “This is a fun one I wrote for the girls.” She added that the song is “a fun preview of what’s to come with my next album,” a point that matters because this release is not being pitched as a one-off but as another step toward the next phase of her career.
The song’s full swagger comes through in its chorus, where Pearce sings, “If he’s lookin’ at you that way with a look on his face / That says ‘I can whisk you away,’ go get at him / If you can take him, you can have him.” The writing nods to the kind of bold, humorous country songs long associated with Loretta and Dolly, giving the track a classic feel without sounding dated. For Pearce, the bigger story is clear: she is using a birthday single to keep momentum building while she rolls out music ahead of her next album, and this one is meant to make her fans smile while it does it.