This is, quite literally, music to my ears.
According to Variety, Kacey Musgraves has a new album on the way 2024, and it sounds like she’s ready to fully jump back into making the country music that she’s truly one of the best at.
Like I mentioned in previous posts, she’s been seemingly dipping her toes back into the country and country-adjacent world with collaborations with Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan last year, and it sounds like my hunch might be (hopefully) correct.
Kacey most recently put out her “divorce album” Star-Crossed in 2021, though it was decidedly more pop-leaning and had few true country songs on it (which also caused a stir with the Grammy Awards).
The Variety article stated that this forthcoming (unofficially announced) project is “still very much for her longtime country base”:
“Musgraves affiliated herself with Interscope as well as Universal Music Nashville on ‘Star-Crossed,’ but if you think being hooked up with a pop label means she’s moving toward strictly a pop play, we’ve heard the forthcoming album is something that is still very much for her longtime country base.
Waiting to find out what she’s bringing us with this one definitely counts as a slow burn.”
If it holds up, and we end up with some sort of album reminiscent of Same Trailer Different Park or Pageant Material, you can already put it at the top of my 2024 favorite albums list:
Kacey is a bright light in the country genre, and her unique perspective, willingness to step (and live) outside of the box, and unsurpassed talent makes her an inarguable gift to everyone who loves genuinely great music.
She doesn’t sing about “traditional” things, but rather tends to mock them in a decidedly poignant way which I find quite refreshing, and sometimes hard to come by, in country. She’s figured out how to make her point, whatever it is, with wit and humor.
She’s never been one to hold back, either, often inserting and presenting her opinions both politically and otherwise straightforwardly in her lyrics. Though I may not always agree with everything she says, I admire her willingness to share who she really is in her music, no holds barred.
And while I did like a couple of the songs on Star-Crossed, like “Justified” and “Breadwinner,” there is something so special about the way she writes, produces and sings country music that is second to none.
I think there are a lot of factors that contributed to her wanting to “go pop,” if you will, and I can’t say that I blame her.
Above all else, her knack for storytelling with that signature southern flair, and innate ability and willingness to boundaries unapologetically, is everything that I, and many other fans, love so much about her, and kind of felt like was lacking some on Star-Crossed.
I’ll go into whatever the new project is with an open mind and realistic expectations, but regardless, I can’t wait to hear what she has coming in 2024.
I mean, Kacey said it herself, she’ll always be a “dime store cowgirl” at heart… and I believe her, so here’s to this album being countrier than cornbread, and as always, a cut above almost everyone else trying to do the same thing.
“Dime Store Cowgirl”
