Yee-haw queen Kacey Musgraves has announced her grand return. I for one am simply giddy with excitement, are you?
I have to attribute my love of Miss Musgraves to Kerry, one of my best friends of over 15 years. I once yelled at her at a Harry Styles concert because she said she “only came to see Kacey,” who was his opener on that tour. But after her electrifying performance, I got it. And just a few years later, I would be on a spontaneous trip with Kerry to Nashville to see Kacey speak at The Country Music Hall of Fame. It was there my love and admiration for her was solidified. Learning of her upbringing, her hustle in the music industry, the expertise of her artistry, her charm - one couldn’t help but to fall in love with her.
Seeing Kacey in Nashville in 2019
Her 2018 hit album Golden Hour ushered her into a more mainstream spotlight. The album is largely about her relationship with fellow country singer and her then-husband Rushton Kelly. Golden Hour was warm, sunny, psychedelic, melancholy. It was happy and sad, at the same time, and it’s one of my favorite albums of all time.
That feeling when you’re getting new Kacey music, and also Kacey when she won Album of the Year at the 2019 Grammys
After a well-deserved three year hiatus from new music (save for a holiday album and a collab with Troye Sivan), she dropped the slow, somber single star-crossed today.
The song opens with the lyrics, let me set the scene.
And that is exactly what she’s doing - she is setting the scene for this album, for this new era. This single was not released with the expectation that it would soar on the charts and break records. No, instead she is letting us know what we can look forward to on this album, which is expected to detail the breakdown and divorce of Kacey’s marriage.
We are in an era of “eras” and the formula and concept of the lead single is changing. (Almost) gone are the days of the smash lead single. Let’s consider Lorde’s Solar Power, which I feel may be a logical comparison to Kacey. Fans had been eagerly waiting for several years for Lorde to release her next single and album. When Solar Power dropped this June, it was not exactly what fans were anticipating. I stand firmly that Solar Power was not meant to be a hit single, but instead a welcome into a new epoch of her career. Its purpose was not to break music records. It seems as if artists and the music industry as a whole have been adopting this as a key part in rolling out a new album, now so more than ever.
Photo from Evan Ross Katz’s Instagram
Kacey will also be releasing a film in conjunction with the album release, which will feature RuPaul’s Drag Race’s most recent winner Symone, actress Victoria Pedretti, comedian Meg Stalter, rapper Princess Nokia, comedian Courtney Parchman and actor Eugene Levy. Between Kacey and whoever is producing this film, they understood the assignment too, too well.
Another conversation worth having is when artists’ personal lives and music intersect. Consider Ariana Grande when she and Pete Davidson’s engagement ended. The realization that Jay-Z had cheated on Beyoncé while watching Lemonade. These are just to name a few examples, but when - typically - a female artist experiences a break-up, we are all too quick to tweet out “heartbreak era incoming.” We expect the biggest, baddest, angriest, antsiest songs to be pumped into our ear canals.
I would be the first to say that I have the highest of expectations when it comes to my favorite musicians. The scenarios I create in my head for what they should do next or how they should promote their music is a hobby of mine. With that being said, I am attempting to lower my expectations and fully immerse myself in the story and art they are telling. It is their vision to share, not mine (much to my chagrin).
All this to say, I am very excited for this new era of Kacey Musgraves. The most incredible and often most breathtaking art is created after heartbreak and grief, and I have a feeling she is going to deliver.