Diva Spotlight - Kacey Musgraves

Folks, I've said it before and I'll say it again and again and again: Kacey Musgraves is one of my favorite lyricists of all time. A good millennial Texas girl with a habit for writing tongue-in-cheek songs about life in our world today resonates very strongly with me, I wonder why...(iykyk). She's classy, she's confident, and she's a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, and I'm so excited to spotlight her this week.

A quick Kacey Crash Course for those of you unfamiliar with her:

-Currently 31 years old

-Born & raised in Golden, Texas (just under 83 miles from Dallas)

-Married singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly in 2017

-Instruments include vocals, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, and guitar

-Began songwriting at age 8

-Has won 23 awards to date including but not limited to: 6 Grammys, 7 CMAs, and 4 ACMS

-Has released 5 studio albums to date: 3 "regular" and 2 Christmas

As per usual, I'll be focusing on Musgraves' non-Christmas albums and my top 3 favorite songs from each.

Same Trailer Different Park (2013)

Musgraves' debut album was released March 19th, 2013 and is country to its core. With a 40:11 run time, it was produced by Mercury Nashville and ended up winning the Grammy for Best Country Album at the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014. It has now been certified Platinum by the RIAA for selling at least one million copies and released four singles: Merry Go 'Round (9/10/12), Blowin' Smoke (4/1/13), Follow Your Arrow (10/21/13), and Keep it to Yourself (3/10/14). There's something refreshingly simple about this album - you can tell she was dipping her toe in to test the waters and see how her ideal type of record would go, yet it still maintains what has now become a signature flavor of hers.

Track 3: Merry Go 'Round (written by J. Osborne, K. Musgraves, S. McAnally)

This is without a doubt my favorite Musgraves song at this current point in time, the year of our Lord 2020. Her debut single on the radio, I fell in love with it the first time I heard it and prayed and prayed that she wouldn't end up being a one-hit wonder. I love everything about it - the lyrics, the guitar cadence, the message, it all mixes together to become a great song.

If you ain't got two kids by twenty-one, you're probably gonna die alone/At least that's what tradition told you/And it don't matter if you don't believe, come Sunday morning/You best be there in the front row like you're supposed to/Same hurt in every heart/Same trailer, different park/Mama's hooked on Mary Kay, brother's hooked on Mary Jane/And Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down/Merry, merry, quite contrary, we get bored so we get married/Just like dust, we settle in this town/On this broken merry go 'round and 'round and 'round we go, where it stops, nobody knows/And it ain't slowing down, this merry go 'round

Track 5: Blowin' Smoke (written by K. Musgraves, L. Laird, S. McAnally)

With the release of Musgraves' second single, my prayers were answered that she would likely be around to stay. This song is probably the most profoundly "Kacey" song on the album based off of her later repertoire - very tongue in cheek, a bit jaded, and very relatable to a lot of people. Does it apply to me? No. But I crank it every time it comes on because it's a banger.

Between the lunch and dinner rush/Kelly caught that outbound bus for Vegas/We're all out here talking trash, making bets, lips wrapped 'round our cigarettes/She always thought she was too good to be a waitress/Well, we all say that we'll quit someday/When our ship comes in, we'll just sail away/But we're just blowing smoke, hey, yeah/We're just blowing smoke, hey, yeah/Out here going broke, hey, yeah/Yeah, we're just blowing smoke

Track 10: Stupid (written by J. Osbourne, K. Musgraves, S. McAnally)

I'm a sucker for a good, solid, thudding drumbeat - I think it's due to my dance years. The heavy drums and guitar on this track mixed with the almost chant-like cadence Musgraves uses on the vocals creates yet another banger that I turn up as loud as I can when it turns on.

Plays you like a fiddle, shakes you like a rattle/Takes away your gun and sends you into battle/Huffs and it puffs 'til it blows your house down/And you don't know your heart from a hole in the ground/Stupid, love is stupid/Don't know why we always do it/Finally find it just to lose it/Always wind up looking stupid, stupid

Pageant Material (2015)

Musgraves' sophomore album is 100% my favorite of her three existing collections. Released June 23rd, 2015, she makes her country sound a bit more neotraditional here with a lot of steel guitar (which I love) and other classic country tropes mixed in with more modern topics. With a run time of 46:23, it was produced by Mercury Nashville and has sold 303,700 copies worldwide. Only two singles were released for this record: Biscuits (3/16/15) and Dime Store Cowgirl (8/3/15), which in my opinion is an absolute travesty because every song on this record is fabulous. This was the record I had the hardest time narrowing down my top 3 - I mean, she does a duet with Willie Nelson for crying out loud - but alas, I made do.

Track 4: Pageant Material (written by K. Musgraves, L. Laird, S.McAnally)

The title track of this album should absolutely have been released as a single in my opinion because it's solid gold. As a girl who also grew up in the South, although thankfully with no pressure to join the pageant circuit (thanks Mom), I can relate to this song very personally due to the pressures that are on not just Southern women, but all women to be picture perfect all the time - it's just not possible. And guess what? That's okay.

God bless the girls who smile and hug when they're called out as a runner-up on TV/I wish I could, but I just can't wear a smile when a smile ain't what I'm feeling/And who's to say I'm a 9.5 or a 4.0 if you don't even know me/Life ain't always roses and pantyhose/And I ain't pageant material/I'm always higher than my hair, and it ain't that I don't care about world peace/But I don't see how I can fix it in a swimsuit on a stage/I ain't exactly Miss Congenial/Sometimes I talk before I think, I try to fake it but I can't/I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't

Track 6: Biscuits (written by B. Clark, K. Musgraves, S. McAnally)

I sang the praises of Biscuits about six months ago on my Thanksgiving post, but it's getting some more today because it deserves it, dammit. This song has become a bit of an anthem for me over the last year and a half because really, everyone needs a reminder sometimes that they are no better than anyone else, myself included. Get over yourself and unless they're doing something to intentionally hurt themself or someone else, leave people alone like you'd want them to do to you.

Nobody's perfect, we've all lost and we've all lied/Most of us have cheated, the rest of us tried/The holiest of holies even slip from time to time/We've all got dirty laundry hanging on the line/So hoe your own row and raise your own babies/Smoke your own smoke and grow your own daisies/Mend your own fences and own your own crazy/Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy/Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy

Track 10: Family Is Family (written by J. Osborne, K. Musgraves, S. McAnally)

We all have at least one member of our family who we, to put it kindly, wish didn't exist. Musgraves' ode to family is so delightfully real, with a family stereotype in it for just about everybody and backed by a very classic country instrumental sound taking you on a fun nostalgia trip.

They're there for your first year, they give you your first beer/When you get your heart broke, they're there for your worst year/Don't get you at all, but your apple don't fall too far from 'em/They own too much wicker and drink too much liquor/You'd wash your hands of them, but blood's always thicker/You might look just like 'em, that don't mean you like 'em, but you love 'em/Family is family, in church or in prison/You get what you get and you don't get to pick 'em/They might smoke like chimneys, but give you their kidneys/Your friends come in handy, but family is family

Golden Hour (2018)

Whoo, boy, this album is great, too. Released March 30th, 2018, Musgraves mixes in a little more pop with her country here and it definitely paid off: she walked away with the CMA and ACM's Album of the Year Awards in 2018 as well as Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Country Album in 2019. With a 45:44 run time, the album has been certified Gold by the RIAA since its release, having sold 338,600 albums worldwide. So far, five singles have been released from Golden Hour: Butterflies (2/23/18), Space Cowboy (2/23/18), High Horse (6/25/18), Slow Burn (10/16/18), and Rainbow (2/11/19). This album has somewhat of a dreamy quality to it, in my opinion harkening to Musgraves' Instagram handle @spaceykacey, and it's just as fun to listen to as her previous two collections.

Track 3: Butterflies (written by K. Musgraves, L. Laird, N. Hemby)

Musgraves wrote this song about her relationship with her husband Ruston Kelly, and the love she has for him pours out of every single lyric. The harmonies on the chorus are fantastic, and it's a song that makes you just want to grab your guy and slow dance.

Kiss full of color, makes me wonder where you've always been/I was hiding in doubt 'til you brought me out of my chrysalis/Then I came out blue/All because of you/And now you're lifting me up 'stead of holding me down, stealing my heart 'stead of stealing my crown/Untangled all the strings 'round my wings that were tied/I didn't know him and I didn't know me, Cloud Nine was always out of reach/Now I remember what it feels like to fly, you give me butterflies

Track 7: Space Cowboy (K. Musgraves, L. Laird, S. McAnally)

This song took me by surprise the first time I heard it, because I was not expecting a slower break up ballad (probably due to the fact that the other song I think of when I hear Space Cowboy is the absolute banger from *NSYNC back in the day). This is a song that'll break your heart while listening to Musgraves' lyrics about knowing that she and her partner are drifting apart and her acceptance that she can't change what's already happened.

You look out the window while I look at you/Saying I don't know would be like saying the sky ain't blue/And boots weren't made for sitting by the door/Since you don't wanna stay here anymore/You can have your space, cowboy, I ain't gonna fence you in/Go on, ride away in your Silverado, guess I'll see you 'round again/I know my place, and it ain't with you, well, sunsets fade and love does, too/Yeah, we had our day in the sun, when a horse wants to run, there ain't no sense in closing the gate/You can have your space, cowboy

Track 13: Rainbow (written by K. Musgraves, N. Hemby, S. McAnally)

I tear up every time I hear this song because it feels like she's singing directly to me. This song helped me through a really difficult time I went through close to a year ago, and I know I'm not the only one this song has touched. When life gets dark, we just have to look up and a lot of the time, that rainbow's always been there to help cheer us up and on.

When it rains, it pours, but you didn't even notice/It ain't raining anymore, it's hard to breathe when all you know is/The struggle of staying above the rising water line/Well, the sky has finally opened, the rain and wind stopped blowing/But you're stuck out in the same old storm again/You hold tight to your umbrella, well darling, I'm just trying to tell ya/That there's always been a rainbow hanging over your head

If you've never listened to her music before, I highly encourage you to try out all three of Musgraves' albums - my husband is not a huge country fan and he even really enjoys listening to her. Also, do yourself a favor and do a YouTube search for "Kacey Musgraves' Yeehaw Coachella Fail" because it cemented her place as one of my favorite people ever. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!