‘Golden Hour’ was an album that undoubtedly changed Kacey Musgraves’ life forever. Winning her four Grammy Awards including the coveted ‘Album Of The Year’, and seeing her embark on a Sold Out world tour, the Country-pop singer songwriter soundtracked a lot of sun-soaked and introspective moments in people’s lives. Because of that it meant that her next album was always going to be highly anticipated and heavily criticised. So she’s surprise announced that her fifth studio album ‘Star-Crossed’ will be released in 2 weeks on September 10. To coincide with the announcement, she’s also dropped the title track which almost acts as a prelude to the concept record.
‘Star-Crossed’ is sonically and thematically completely different to anything she’s ever done before. But at its foundations it’s still driven by the very important storytelling elements that have captured the hearts of listeners over the years. Exploring the breakdown of her marriage in a Romeo & Juliet manner, she highlights the pain and trauma of loving someone and losing them because you’re just not meant to be together. But she also captures the beauty of what they had in a contrasting way, and this lead single sets the tone so poignantly and hints at the honest introspection to come. “I signed the papers yesterday. You came and took your things away. And moved out of the home we made. And gave you back your name” she details before questioning “What have we done? Did we fly too high just to get burned by the sun?”.
The psychedelic influenced country song sits in a unique Tame Impala crossover world compared to what you usually expect from her. Cinematically inclined, it begins very minimalistic and gradually builds with buzzing synths and angelic harmonies. It really does feel like an intro song instead of a single as it’s all about setting context to allow her to tell her story in full as this is an album that will need (and deserves) to be experienced from start to finish.