Season 47 of Saturday Night Live kicked off on Oct. 2, and singer Kacey Musgraves was the musical guest alongside host Owen Wilson. Musgraves just released her fifth studio album, star-crossed, so the country crooner took the stage to perform some of her new hit tracks.
For her first song, Musgraves sang “justified,” a heartbroken ballad about breaking up, moving on, and all of the emotions that come along with that. Musgraves took the stage with her guitar and hit all the right notes, proving once again why she is one of the best country singers in the game.
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Musgraves wrote star-crossed about her divorce from her ex-husband Ruston Kelly, and those heightened emotions come through every lyric. In a May nterview with Elle Magazine, Musgraves opened up about her two-year marriage that ended in July 2020 despite inspiring her second album, Golden Hour. “If you would’ve told me the night of the Grammys, ‘Hey, in two years, you’re going to be divorced and have a whole ‘nother album written,’ I would have been like, ‘F— off. No. No way,’ ” Musgraves said.
Musgraves explained in the interview that quarantining together early on in the COVID-19 pandemic put their differences in sharp relief and hastened the relationship’s end. “I could have coasted for another couple of years,” she said, “just not paying attention to my feelings or not really dealing with some things.” All of the time spent isolated gave Musgaves time to think and question everything. “Why did I make these decisions? How did I get here? How can I prevent myself from getting there again? Why do I keep choosing the same kind of people?” she said.
“I felt, in many ways, on top of the world in my career,” the star added, “but in my personal life, I felt like I was dying inside. I was crumbling. I was sad. I felt lonely. I felt broken.” Musgraves also came from a family “full of long marriages,” so that pressure made it difficult to end things when things with Kelly weren’t working. “It was hard to not feel like I was in some ways a failure,” said Musgraves. “There’s nothing more shameful than staying somewhere where you don’t fit anymore.” Sometimes things don’t work out and Musgraves and Kelly have stayed friendly, saying in their initial statement that “we hold no blame, anger, or contempt for each other.”
