Kellie Pickler is really growing on me. Though I found her sort of annoying on American Idol, she’s carved out a respectable career in country music since then, and has given some fairly interesting interviews. Last year she started crying onstage while performing at the Country Music Awards when she sang a song she wrote about the mother who abandoned her. In several interviews she’s shown that she’s willing to talk about her struggles and has a good deal more depth than her dyed blonde hair and boob job would make you think.

Kellie is promoting her newest CD, and talked about a message that she says runs throughout the album: telling young girls to hold on to their innocence. While it’s sort of cheesy, when she was interviewed she didn’t come off as condescending or holier-than-thou about it. My first reaction was that she’d probably slept with guys she wished she hadn’t, and the song was coming from a place of appreciating yourself.

With her bottle-blonde hair and breast implants, one could argue that Kellie Pickler comes across as the “naughty little minx” that Simon Cowell once called her during the fifth season of “American Idol.” But the country crooner is upholding a moral ground on her upcoming album by encouraging young girls to maintain their “innocence” for as long as possible.

“I need to sing about real things that I relate to and are part of me and my life, I think it’s important to keep it real,” Pickler told us in reference to her self-titled album which debuted at number one on the country charts last week. “The first time people hear ‘Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful,’ they always think I’m singing about outer beauty but its so much more deep than that. My favorite verse is the second verse which goes: ‘Hey there little homecoming queen in that back seat, I bet his brown eyes are promising you everything and I know you want to be just like your friends. But he’ll still love you if you don’t give in, but if those girls were being honest that have been where you’re at, I bet they’ll tell you they wish they had their innocence back.’”

So for all the young women out there who look up to Pickler as their “Idol”, she has a few words of wisdom …

“Hold onto that innocence because it is so beautiful and cherish it because its priceless — and once it’s gone, you cant get it back,” she said. “I think it’s important for all women, young girls as well as adults to love what you see when you look in the mirror, to love your heart.”

[From Fox News’ Pop Tarts]

Normally I would find a song about keeping your virginity trite and boring at best, but it seems like Kellie’s heart is in the right place. I don’t get the sense that she’s judging anyone, just pointing out that there are other ways to go that are just as good. Considering how many songs there are about being a total skank, it’s nice to have a few that present a different option.

Here’s Kellie at the CMA Music Festival celebrity signing in Nashville on June 6th. Photographer Judy Eddy. Images thanks to WENN.