Adrienne Raquel
Receiving critical acclaim for her 2018 album Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves’s country-pop record would go on and combine sounds of disco, electro-pop, and much more. Singles “Space Cowboy” and “Butterflies” each gained their own critical acclaim, winning Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. Her other singles such as “High Horse,” “Slow Born,” and “Rainbow” went on to become fan favorites.
what’s your favorite song so far? #starcrossed pic.twitter.com/qhppcbuwxs
— K A C E Y (@KaceyMusgraves) September 16, 2021
Golden Hour contained many love songs, but this time around, with her fifth studio album star-crossed, Kacey Musgraves explores heartache and healing while combining genres like folk, dance, rock, and psychedelic while still staying strong to her country sound.
Beginning with “star-crossed,” the first track off the album opens with soft harmonies sung by Musgraves as it is then led by a Spanish guitar. Creating a foundation for the rest of the album as she sings “Let me set the scene…” each track after “star-crossed” is accompanied by the sweet sounds of a guitar.
With her second track, “good wife,” Musgraves goes back to the beginning (just as she speaks at the start of this song) and asks for help in being a good wife. At the same time, Musgraves also sings about how she knows that she can make it on her own, “But without him, this house just wouldn’t be a home…”
As star-crossed continues on track-after-track, songs like “cherry blossom” give the record a nice change as it brings in those pop elements that Musgraves plays with. On “camera roll,” Musgraves paints a picture that many can relate to as one goes back through their own camera roll and reminisce on the good times and bad times.
On “easier said,” Musgraves sings the all too familiar saying of it’s easier said than done — something many can relate to as well especially when it comes to being and/or falling in love. It’s an honest song that shares the heartache that Musgraves went through.
The one thing that’s different on this album is the last track “gracias a la vida,” which Musgraves sings in Spanish and brings back that Spanish guitar that was introduced in “star-crossed.”
“gracias a la vida” is a thank you letter to the life that Musgraves has been given. It acknowledges all the good things that she has been given and has gone through but also all the hardship as well. It’s a thank you that leads to the healing that Musgraves finds in the end.
Each and every song featured on star-crossed is a collection of Musgraves most personal experiences and thoughts that occurred during her heartache. It’s an album filled with emotion, pain, longing, loving, but also learning to move on and as Musgraves sings, that “there is a light” at the end of it all.
Stream star-crossed by Kacey Musgraves here.