Julianne Hough Dances with the Stars and Sings

Dancing with the Stars dancer Julianne Hough is really a country music singer at heart.

Paired with Indy car driver Helio Castroneves and Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, she won two DWTH titles.

Hough just released her first album, self-titled Julianne Hough, and dropped the first single "That Song in My Head."

Her first taste of fame came from Dancing with the Stars, but Hough says she always had a song in her heart.

Said Hough: "Before I was on the show, I was planning to move to Nashville, but then I was asked to be on Dancing with the Stars. I thought, I can't turn down this much exposure. This could be a very big platform in helping me get my foot in the door. So we put (the music) on hold, and after the season, we went straight to Nashville and started meeting with producers and songwriters and record labels. It was going really well, and then the next season of (Stars) started, and I had to put the music on hold again. But even if I wasn't going to get signed, we were going to go ahead and do it ourselves."

That didn't happen. "Luke Lewis (head of Mercury Records) had never seen the show, but he'd heard about me. When I met him, it felt like I connected with him really well. It just felt right. The minute I got finished with (Stars), I went to Nashville, and we started rocking and rolling. We literally made the album in two months."

To check out Hough's freshman effort "That Song in my Head," visit at her website at http://www.juliannehough.com