Kellie Pickler launches new album

Rising country singer Kellie Pickler is releasing her fourth studio album, ‘The Woman I Am’.

A finalist on American Idol’s fifth season and a Dancing With the Stars winner, the artist says she sought inspiration close to home for her album, which includes two songs she co-wrote with her songwriter husband, Kyle Jacobs.

“I just write about life, you know.” she says. “I think that’s what makes country music so special, it’s that behind country songs are stories about people’s lives and what they’ve been through or where they are at or where they hope they are heading. And that’s why people love country music. It’s there to celebrate the good times. It’s there to mourn the sad times. It’s just a consistent friend that’s always there.”

Kylie Pickler had a tough childhood, between a mother who abandoned her and an alcoholic, drug-addicted father. She signed her first record deal at the age of 20.

“You write a song like you write in your journal or your diary. You just put your intimate thoughts and feelings, and you put your soul down on paper. And those journal entries that you write, it’s so easy to turn that into the form of a song. You know, cause you’re writing the lyrics. The lyrics are what you feel,” says the artist.

“The Woman I Am” has earned critical acclaim, with reviews mostly praising Kellie Pickler’s ascent as a country music artist and her celebration of strong women.

The album is out now.