Kacey Musgraves

The singer-songwriter on the enduring legacy of Sheryl Crow, how to have a good acid trip, and why it makes sense for her to open for Harry Styles

- Brian Hiatt

KACEY MUSGRAVES CREATES lovely little self-contained universes in her songs, as anyone who’s heard her superb, subtly pop-leaning, mildly psychedelic third album, Golden Hour, can confirm. Musgraves can pull off the same trick in conversation, too, as when she describes the concept behind the LP’s opening track, “Slow Burn.” “It’s an idea I can apply to a lot of different areas of my life,” she says, taking a break from editing a new video. “Like, I want to be here for a long time doing what I love, and I don’t feel I need to try to be the biggest I can be, the quickest. And I even thought of a good drink that you sip on for a long time. Or a slow burn of a relationship that starts with a little bit of a spark and doesn’t burn out too quick.”

When you sing “Texas is hot/I can be cold,” is that a self-criticism?

Yeah, it’s a bit of a self-criticism. I feel like I can be really cold, but also really touchy-feely. It’s a weird juxtaposition. Like, I’ve been told I have resting bitch face [laughs]. I just don’t have a lot of time for bullshit or fluff, and I never really have. I kind of say immediately what I feel and sometimes that comes off as being kind of cold to the people around me, but I don’t mean to come off that way. 

You wrote “Mother” on acid – ever have a bad trip?