Kacey Musgraves Hints at Psychedelic Beginnings of Fifth Album

The follow up to Golden Hour will come from a much different place.

Written by Chris Parton
Kacey Musgraves Hints at Psychedelic Beginnings of Fifth Album
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 07: Kacey Musgraves arrives at the 2019 Variety's Hitmakers Brunch at Soho House on December 07, 2019 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)

After achieving the biggest success of her already acclaimed career with her last album — the Grammy Album of the Year winning Golden HourKacey Musgraves has a big job ahead.

She’ll look to follow up with her not-yet-announced fifth album sometime soon, and it will find her in a much different place from that dream-country standout. Lately, she’s been explaining just how different.

Speaking on the A Slight Change of Plans podcast from Dr. Maya Shankar, which explores questions of the mind and how changes shape our lives, Musgraves opens up about what fans can expect. She’ll be exploring some raw emotions in the wake of her 2020 divorce from Ruston Kelly, she admits, since the romantic joy that Golden Hour captured has unfortunately been lost. But to get there, she turned to something unexpected for help.

The new album isn’t done yet, but the Texas singer-songwriter says her next set will be like the other side of the coin from her previous LP.

“One thing that’s interesting to me is — what comes after golden hour? Nighttime. And so, like, I’m in a nighttime period,” she says. “What’s cool about that is there will be light again.”

During the intriguing podcast, Musgraves opens up about how hard it was to go through the divorce — and how she thinks finding a way to harness that tragedy will be key to her next chapter.

“Man, I think my whole life, I’m the older sister, the performer, and I think being that strong, kind of unfazed person was just kind of a go-to for me,” she explains. “And I realize now as I get older that that’s the least strong thing that you can do…

“There was a period where I was like, ‘I am crumbling inside,'” Musgraves goes on. “‘I’m not worthy of love. I suck at it. I’ll never, I don’t wanna get attached to anybody ever again.’ I felt really burned by it, you know what I mean? And so I have to remind myself that those feelings are even more relatable to people than this fuzzy, blissed-out, dopamine love album. That’s more of a rarity to feel, sadly, than the other. So I think it’ll be even more relatable to people.”

Kacey Musgraves included previews of two tracks to illustrate what she means, sharing snippits of songs called “Camera Roll” and “If I Was An Angel” in the process. Both are reflective explorations of emotional fallout, with “Camera Roll” standing out for its connection to the everyday world. It’s built around the self-torture of scrolling back through your phone’s camera roll, looking at the happy photos of a world which no longer exists.

“That one was really hard. There’s a bunch on there — they’re pretty raw,” Musgraves admits. “I’m sharing a lot about my inner feelings, and that’s not always easy for me.”

Meanwhile, the bold country hit maker goes into detail about getting the new album started in a new profile from Cracked — further explaining the psychedelic trip which kicked her process off. Check that one out to explore the wounded headspace she found on that journey, and how it may change the way recent fans see her.

“My last album is what people know me for,” she says. “They see me as this starry-eyed, rose-coloured glasses kinda girl; the Golden Hour girl. Well, here I come with a post-divorce album, bursting the f***ing bubble.”