Finish Your Sentences
by Carly Pearce (featuring Michael Ray)

Album: Carly Pearce (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Finish Your Sentences" is Carly Pearce's first duet with her husband, fellow country artist Michael Ray. Pearce told The Boot the song captures "that first initial feeling of falling in love," which is exactly where the couple were at when they recorded it.
  • After Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley wrote "Finish Your Sentences," Rhett and Big Machine Label head Scott Borchetta pitched the song to Pearce. "I just felt like it was the perfect song for Michael and I to sing together," she recalled. "I know that Thomas and Kelsea probably wrote it to sing together, but it feels like somebody who's actually in a relationship [with each other] needs to sing that song."
  • Ray had yet to pop the question to Pearce when they hit the recording studio together, which made her a bit nervous about putting their love on literal record. She says their teams were very encouraging, which helped them get over the idea of mixing business with love.
  • During a 2026 Entertainment Tonight interview, Pearce was asked which song she wishes she never released. "'Finish Your Sentences' with Michael Ray," she deadpanned. "That didn't age well."

    Pearce and Ray, of course, separated after eight months of marriage. Their subsequent divorce became a very public chapter in Pearce's life, making the title of their duet particularly awkward in retrospect. They certainly finished something; unfortunately, it wasn't each other's sentences.

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