Carly Pearce & Luke Combs Give Surprise Performance Of #1 Hit They Wrote Together
on Sep 29, 2025
Carly Pearce & Lee Brice Released “I Hope You’re Happy Now” In 2019
On September 27, 2019, Carly Pearce and Lee Brice released a duet that took over country radio. In just six weeks, it broke into the top 30, making it the fastest rising single of Pearce’s career to date.
It landed at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay Chart on June 20, 2020, spending a total of 37 weeks on the chart. It is Pearce’s second No. 1 of her career and Brice’s sixth.
Carly Pearce wrote “I Hope You’re Happy Now” with Luke Combs, Randy Montana, and Jonathan Singleton. Initially, Combs was supposed to sing on the song with her, but he had to back out for some reason. That’s when Brice was called and he immediately jumped at the chance.
At the 2020 CMA Awards, the duo won for Musical Event of the Year. They were also nominated for Song of the Year and Music Video of the Year. This was Pearce’s first-ever award!
They were slated to perform the song at the award show, but Brice came down with COVID, so he was quickly replaced with Charles Kelley from Lady A.
The following Spring, “I Hope You’re Happy Now” had several nominations at the ACM Awards, which Brice was able to attend! They performed the song together and also took home Musical Event of the Year and Single of the Year.
After Six Years, Carly Finally Performed It With Luke Combs
On Friday, September 26, the Grand Ole Opry went overseas to London’s Royal Albert Hall and aired live on WSM radio as well as BBC Radio Two.
Grand Ole Opry members Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, and Marty Stuart performed on the stage, where they included the iconic Opry circle, with UK artists Breabach and Mumford & Sons.
Since Combs and Pearce were on the same bill for the first time, in what seems like, ever, they of course had to perform together.
Pearce started off the song solo, but when it came time for the male solo, she said, “Please make welcome to the stage, my friend, Luke Combs!”
The crowd erupted in applause as Combs walked on stage to sing the male part of “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”
Pearce shared a clip of the duet on Instagram, saying, “many of you don’t know that I wrote ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ with @lukecombs. tonight in London, we sang it for the FIRST time since we wrote it six years ago…thank you Luke for this full circle moment!”
Some of the immediate reactions from Combs, his wife, other country singers, and fans all agreed that this duet was insane in all the best ways. Combs’ vocals paired with Pearce’s harmonies had fans begging for them to record it and release it together.
Watch their incredible performance below.
