In retrospect, Golden Hour was a transitional record signaling a commitment to continue toying with the mechanics of KaceyвЂ™s songs and not quite the pop pivot that was advertised. Airplay on country radio had been finicky. вЂњThatвЂ™s totally cool.вЂќ Anyone angry about Golden HourвЂ™s three hip-hop beats and one crisp disco rhythm was revealing themselves as a fussy purist. вЂњSome people come with you onto the next one, and some people donвЂ™t,вЂќ she told NME in 2019. Kacey felt the pivot and the influx of new listeners might rankle someone but didnвЂ™t care. (That gesture grows pithier when you remember that KaceyвЂ™s label had reservations about releasing вЂњFollow Your ArrowвЂќ as a single before it earned her highest placements thus far on BillboardвЂ™s Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts and tipped savvy mainstream listeners off to her music.) Maybe the tedium of appeasing the boys club took a toll, and maybe it was just the tilt in perspective that discovering LSD tends to instigate, but Golden Hour carefully traversed other genres, most rewardingly on the ego-deflating disco jam вЂњHigh Horse,вЂќ which, alongside Maren Morris and ZeddвЂ™s вЂњThe Middle,вЂќ earned pop-radio airplay and Grammys prestige. These songs can feel almost tailor-made for challenging the reserved, traditionalist audiences big country hits reach in America, and Pageant MaterialвЂ™s вЂњGood OlвЂ™ Boys ClubвЂќ pushes this a step further, taking aim at music-industry executives who carelessly center menвЂ™s interests. MusgravesвЂ™s work preaches a life where we mellow out, find true love, and smoke more pot instead of crucifying each other over our differences. SheвЂ™s thumbing her nose at all of the church gossips and neighborhood terrors who get their jollies minding everyone elseвЂ™s business. As much as songs like вЂњFollow Your Arrow,вЂќ вЂњSpace Cowboy,вЂќ and вЂњBiscuitsвЂќ honor a storied tradition of country performers invoking (or inverting) familiar idioms and colloquialisms to share relatable missives about the human condition - think Tammy WynetteвЂ™s вЂњI DonвЂ™t Wanna Play House,вЂќ Garth BrooksвЂ™s вЂњFriends in Low Places,вЂќ and Alan Jackson and Jimmy BuffettвЂ™s вЂњItвЂ™s Five OвЂ™Clock SomewhereвЂќ - Kacey is also in conversation with a certain state of mind. вЂњSlow Burn,вЂќ the elegant country-rock opener of 2018вЂ™s Golden Hour, Album of the Year winner at the 2019 Grammys, toasts to moving through life at whatever pace feels right. вЂњDie Fun,вЂќ a gorgeous deep cut on 2015вЂ™s Pageant Material, wonders aloud why we waste so much time observing restrictive standards for adulthood. Different ParkвЂ™s вЂњFollow Your Arrow,вЂќ named Song of the Year at the 2014 CMA Awards, is a pep talk for anyone whoвЂ™s been ostracized for not fitting in. вЂњSilver Lining,вЂќ the first song on the East Texas singer-songwriterвЂ™s 2013 major-label debut Same Trailer Different Park, details all the good that can come from riding out a storm, in life and in nature. Kacey Musgraves writes beautiful, encouraging songs about coming to terms with the aspects of our lives that we canвЂ™t control and taking each day in stride instead. But itвЂ™s also more eclectic, far afield of modern radio tropes, either of the pop or country varieties.Star-crossed is the first Kacey album that doesnвЂ™t call on any of the writers and producers who assisted with her biggest country chart hits. Musgraves is also booked for Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain on June 2.ДЄs the new album emerges, The GuardianвЂ™s Laura Snapes writes in her review of star-crossed: вЂњIf thereвЂ™s a fresh direction here, itвЂ™s to more straightforwardly poppy songs that make a virtue of MusgravesвЂ™ sweet melodic tendencies.вЂќ The Line of Best Fit describes it enthusiastically as вЂњa record that has surpassed all of the greatness her previous efforts entailed.вЂќ Slant, meanwhile, says that the follow-up to 2018вЂ™s Golden Hour is вЂњjust as effortlessly melodic and accessible. The itinerary concludes on February 20 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Highlights include a February 5 date at Madison Square Garden in New York and her February 11 appearance at the Bridgestone Arena. The artist will begin a run of dates on the star-crossed: unveiled tour in North America on January 19 in St.

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