Country music loves a love song, and it loves a partying song. Still, for decades, country music has also loved sad, heartbreaking songs, including these three, which all came out in 2025.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Dream Come True” by Carly Pearce
Carly Pearce just released her vulnerable “Dream Come True” single. The song is written by Pearce, along with Lauren Hungate, Tofer Brown, and Emily Weisband. “Dream Come True” is a painfully honest look at the struggles of being in the public eye. Pearce also reveals in the song that her mother is battling a serious illness.
“Dream Come True” says, “My mama’s sick / Don’t see her that much when I’m on the road / And it’s gettin’ too hard to come to my shows / Like she used to / She says I can’t quit / But then all of her prayers would be in vain / She worked my whole damn life to make / This dream come true.”
“My mom completely devoted her life to chasing this dream for me,” Pearce tells Audacy. “It’s been hard over the last five years for her to not be able to be there with me, and me feeling that guilt of not being able to be with her.”
“How Far Does A Goodbye Go” by Jason Aldean
“How Far Does A Goodbye Go” is on Jason Aldean’s forthcoming Songs About Us record, out on April 24, 2026. Kurt Allison, John Edwards, Tully Kennedy, and John Morgan are the four writers of the song.
“How Far Does A Goodbye Go” begins with, “She said she was headed over to see her mama / To try to clear her head, she needed a little time / Said, ‘We could talk more about it later if you wanna’ / Walked out the door, swore everything was gonna be alright But it’s been four days and three nights of whiskey / And I ain’t heard a word from her and that’s what gets me / So tell me, how far does a goodbye go?.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, stars in the video with her husband.
“Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley
Ella Langley wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, and Joybeth Taylor. The song is from Langley’s next album. “Choosin’ Texas” is about a woman in Tennessee who is in love with a man who is sadly falling for a woman who lives in Texas.
“Choosin’ Texas” says, “She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way / He’s two steppin’ ’round the room / And judging by the smile that’s written on his face / There’s nothin’ I can do / It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see / A cowboy always finds a way to leave / Drinkin’ Jack all by myself / He’s choosin’ Texas, I can tell.”
Langley and Lambert were on a writing retreat when they had the idea for the song.
“I was walking to the bathroom. And I started to go, ‘She’s from Texas, I can tell by the way he’s two-steppin’ around the room,’” Langley recalls (via Wide Open Country).
Photo by Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images
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