Kacey Musgraves Explains Her Move Away From Social Commentary in Music

For years, Kacey Musgraves was known for music that offered tongue-in-cheek reflections on today’s society, whether that be the concept of acceptance, the country music industry or any number of issues in between. But all that changed with her latest album, Golden Hour, a psychedelically-influenced collection of tracks that find Musgraves musing about love much more than social issues.

Speaking to Hits Daily Double, the 29-year-old explained that while she knows “people expect [social commentary] from me,” this time around, she wanted to “focus on the beauty in the world” rather than the ugliness.

“Part of my creative persona is that,” she said of her socially conscious songs. “But three years later, it’s gotten so extreme and convoluted. There are so many issues; everyone’s on a soapbox and has an opinion. It’s just loud and churning people up in not always great ways. I wanted to focus on the beauty in the world. There are these parts of life we’re all missing because we’re getting hit over the head by the ‘fake news’ 24 hours a day. They’re — whatever side you’re on — keeping you churned up, and we’re missing all this good in our world.”

Even though many of Musgraves’ new songs focus on love, the “High Horse” singer acknowledged that love can be a socially-relevant topic in and of itself.

“I love love,” she shared. “So much I’ve never expressed it inwardly in the songs. Now that I’m with someone who loves me no matter what my flaws are, it’s a whole other thing. And you see it even more clearly. Maybe in the craziness of the societal and political landscape, being a voice for love is radical.”

This new element of escapism in Musgraves’ music offers her fans a way to decompress after going through the social ringer that is 2018, something the star noted in her interview.

“There’s a place and time for everything,” she said. “After a day of being inundated by the latest crap on gotcha news, who wants to hear more of it? I think it’s more important to create an escape and a reminder of the beauty around us, the people we love—and to keep our focus on that. If we start there instead, who knows what might happen?”

Musgraves wants to use music to bring people together despite their differences.

“Bringing people together, even in some of these ways that are ugly, creates community,” she said. “In the clashing, maybe they can find common ground. To me, if music and social commentary go hand in hand, we can also show people how to come together.”

“It bothers me when people go, ‘Shut up and sing,’” she added. “The things I sing about are issues of humanity, not politics, acceptance, not judgment. Simple stuff: right and wrong, kindness, being a human being — because it starts there.

Photo Credit: Getty / Kevin Winter