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Carly Pearce Talks the Lasting Impact of her Early Gig Cleaning Airbnbs

The "Next Girl" vocalist jokes, "I am just telling you, people are nasty. The things that I saw may have scarred me."

"I had to make ends meet. I had to pay my rent. I had to get food for my cat," says Carly Pearce, humbly, to CMT's Cody Alan in regards to what she did before seeing productions like her 2018 debut album, Every Little Thing, and her latest album, 29: Written In Stone, achieve mainstream country music success.

Nashville was indeed a "ten-year town" for the "Next Girl" vocalist. "It is very true. I had a record deal, lost it, and for a couple of years didn't have a job," Pearce tells Alan. "I moved here with a high school diploma that I got in the mail because I homeschooled. I did get my diploma. I feel like people need to know that."

"I cleaned Airbnbs in Nashville for a few years, and people are NASTY! Gross! I would clean these massive homes for bachelor and bachelorette parties would be, and I would have to bake cookies for them and leave them," she continues. "Oh, I did all kinds of things! I think that the most memorable is just how disgusting people are. Like, it forever changed my thought on how I leave a hotel room, or how I leave an Airbnb, or how I leave a fitting room because somebody has to clean that up," says Pearce. "And I am just telling you, people are nasty. The things that I saw may have scarred me. They don't care!"

Pearce also recently was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, a moment that included her being feted by Trisha Yearwood.

“Singles will come and go, awards will come and go. The arenas will be full, and then maybe they won’t be. But this is something that nobody can ever take away from you,” said an emotional Pearce upon her Aug. 3 induction.

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