Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour / star-crossed [Review]

Early last year, Kacey Musgraves' fourth studio album Golden Hour resonated with me in a special way, in an indescribable way that music only connects to me when it comes to a select few artists. I pretty quickly became a serious fan of Kacey after that, purchasing all of her albums and eagerly awaiting news of her fifth album which was said to be coming out later in the year (which, obviously, it did). When I first heard Golden Hour and fell in love with it, I was in a new relationship and was very, very happy. I truly believed that I was deeply in love and that - maybe, just maybe - I had finally found the one after years of heartbreak and betrayal, so several of the album's tracks (especially one in particular which I will discuss more at length throughout this review) were very relatable for me, but as was the case with the one chronicled on Golden Hour, my relationship was not meant to be, and it ended up falling apart in mid-March after he spent days gaslighting me by suddenly treating me with newfound indifference and distance but insisting that nothing was wrong when I asked (until finally being honest with me and admitting that he had been leading me on). I am not here to talk about that relationship (if it can honestly even be called that) falling apart, however; I only bring it up because of its personal relevance to these two albums for me (although my situation was nowhere near as dramatic or as serious as Kacey's marriage and divorce were). You see, I have intended for a long time to review and discuss Golden Hour on here, but it, for some reason, kept ending up on the back-burner, and it ended up working out because I think that I was meant to talk about these two albums together, as I think that they should be. star-crossed ultimately is Golden Hour 2, except that it couldn't realistically be titled that because it is thematically Golden Hour's opposite. The two albums pair together similarly to how Björk's two albums Vulnicura and Utopia pair together, except whereas Utopia is the heaven to Vulnicura's hell, star-crossed is the hell to Golden Hour's heaven.

Golden Hour was released in early spring 2018 to overwhelmingly positive reviews, eventually winning Album of the Year and Best Country Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019. Prior to my first having heard it early last year, I was, for a few months, vaguely familiar with Kacey for two reasons: (1) she had done her own folksy rendition of the Frozen II song "All Is Found" on the movie's soundtrack, and (2) she had collaborated with three other artists that I listen(ed) to - Troye Sivan, Lana Del Rey, and Harry Styles. Although I can't recall for certain, those are likely the reasons that I decided to dip into the album, and I sure am glad that I did. The album opens with the acoustic song "Slow Burn," a critically acclaimed song that even went on to inspire a candle. (See picture below.) "Born in a hurry, always late; haven't been early since '88," Musgraves opens with her soft, delicate voice that I love so much. (Seriously, her voice brings me so much peace. Her cover of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" sounds like what I imagine paradise would song like if it were a song.) It's a clever line lyrically because it references her birth in 1988 and sets up the premise of the song, which is about a new relationship blossoming, with Musgraves making the declaration in the chorus that "I'm all right with a slow burn," meaning that she is okay with not rushing into things. A majority of the album is about Kacey's ex-husband, country singer Ruston Kelly (with whom she actually once collaborated), as is star-crossed, and this song definitely makes for a great prelude to the story. One of the main reasons why I love Golden Hour is its effective use of the banjo, an instrument that gives many of these tracks a magical quality, and although there are other songs that do it even more effectively, it's definitely used well on "Slow Burn." "Butterflies" is probably my favorite song on Golden Hour, and it is the song that I associated with my ex-boyfriend last year because it so precisely describes how I felt with him. It is such a beautiful, feel-good song with fluttering banjo and guitar strings and an upbeat, poppy beat. In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, Zane complimented Golden Hour on so effectively capturing what new love feels like. I couldn't agree more, and I think that it's especially prevalent on this song.

Some of the tracks on Golden Hour can probably best be described as electro-country, which I think really goes to show how special that this album is. It experiments with different genres of music, including country, folk, Americana, pop, electronica, and so forth. "Oh, What a World" is a great example, as it begins with electronically filtered (if not electronic altogether) vocals singing the lyrics of the chorus somewhat robotically and monotonously. The song is lyrically expressing gratitude and appreciation for the beautiful aspects of nature, mentioning things like the northern lights, plants, and things that swim with a neon glow. It sort of takes a turn at the end of the chorus when Kacey sings, "...and then there was you." It's as if she is saying, "Yes, the world is alive with magic and beauty, but it's nothing compared to your beauty." My favorite part of the song is the strumming banjo after she sings "...and then there was you," and, in fact, Kacey ended up rerecording the song for Earth Day, and I don't like that version anywhere near as much as I like the album version because it doesn't feature that banjo part which I think just gives the song this magical touch. "Mother" is a very short piano ballad running at only one minute and eighteen seconds. It's absolutely beautiful both melodically and lyrically. Talking about her mother, Kacey sings, "...Wish we didn't live so far from each other. I'm just sitting here thinking 'bout the time that's slipping and missing my mother..." You can tell that Kacey is close with her family; not only because of this song (the music video of which even actually features her mother) but also because she even had her grandmother (whom she calls Nana) appear on her Christmas special a few years ago. We then get "Love Is a Wild Thing" which I think might be my second favorite song next to "Butterflies." It's a soft, acoustic song and is another example of a banjo being used in a powerful and emotional way. "Love Is a Wild Thing" is another song like "Butterflies" that I think beautifully captures the innocence and beauty of newfound love, as it is lyrically about love being an unseen force that works in beautiful ways and cannot be stopped.

I absolutely love "Space Cowboy" but do kind of feel that it feels out of place on the album, not sonically but definitely thematically, especially coming right after "Love Is a Wild Thing." After all, she sings on "Love Is a Wild Thing" that "there's no way to stop [love], but they'll try to" but then here sings that "sunsets fade, and love does, too." The song, which is a rather downcast ballad driven by piano and acoustic guitar, lyrically addresses a relationship that seems to be nearing an end: "I know my place, and it ain't with you. Well, sunsets fade, and love does too. We had our day in the sun. When a horse wants to run, there ain't no sense in closing the gate. You can have your space, cowboy." It seems to be a breakup song whereas most of the album is focused on the polar opposite of that, leading me to believe that if it was written about anyone in particular, it probably wasn't the same person. "Happy & Sad" is another track to which I want to call attention because it's one to which I can really relate. It's lyrically about being apprehensive when you're happy because you're afraid of something bad being around the corner: "...I'm the kind of person who starts getting kind of nervous when I'm having the time of my life." She then goes on to address who is likely her lover in the chorus: "Is there a word for the way that I'm feeling tonight?" she asks rhetorically in the fluctuating, wavering chorus. "Happy and sad at the same time. You got me smiling with tears in my eyes." In that way, it acts as somewhat of a precursor to star-crossed, as does "Wonder Woman" which is, in my opinion, a sister song to one of star-crossed's tracks (which I will discuss when I discuss star-crossed). "Velvet Elvis" is another highlight for me, probably my third favorite following "Love Is a Wild Thing" and "Butterflies." It's jaunty and catchy, and I love how Kacey's vocals have this filtered, tinny effect to them. It is one of the more upbeat songs on the album and returns to the lovey-dovey nature of the album overall. Kacey, in the song, compares her lover to a Velvet Elvis painting, depicting him as a beautiful work of art worthy of being shown off and displayed: "You're my Velvet Elvis," she enthuses in the chorus. "I ain't never gonna take you down. Making everybody jealous when they step into my house."

"High Horse" is definitely another highlight on Golden Hour, especially because of how ridiculously catchy that it is, perhaps even the catchiest song on the album. It's another outlier thematically, however, even more so than "Space Cowboy," because not only is it not a lovey-dovey song, it's pretty critical toward a negative person similar to the song "Step Off" from her first album Same Trailer Different Park. In fact, "Step Off" and "High Horse" are so thematically similar that I wonder if they might be about the same person. (Kacey did once address who "High Horse" is about, saying that she'll never tell but that it's not about just one person in particular.) I love this song so much because of all of the different genres that it blends together, making it the most experimental track on the album, bringing together country, pop, funk, and disco. You then get the title track, a soft country-pop acoustic song that acts as another serenade to her lover: "...You're my golden hour," she croons in the chorus, "the color of my sky. You set my world on fire, and I know, I know everything's going to be all right." The album then closes with another favorite of mine - an absolutely gorgeous piano ballad titled "Rainbow." The song features a very touching music video in which Kacey appears to be some sort of guardian angel guiding people through tough times which is definitely fitting for the song's theme: "Well, the sky has finally opened," she encourages us in the soaring chorus. "The rain and wind stopped blowin', but you're stuck out in the same old storm again. You hold tight to your umbrella. Well, darlin', I'm just tryin' to tell ya that there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head." It's a beautiful closer to a beautiful album, although the Japanese edition does include three additional tracks (as well as an alternate cover which is the one featured above) - "Merry Go Round," "Follow Your Arrow," and "High Horse (Violents Remix)." Although great songs with catchy hooks, the first two are recycled from her debut album Same Trailer Different Park and are not even new versions or re-recordings, so I am not sure what they are doing here, but I absolutely love the remix of "High Horse." It has even more of a retro, disco feel than the album version.

After a Christmas special (which featured a brand new holiday song with Troye Sivan) in 2019, Kacey followed Golden Hour up with star-crossed in September of 2021. As already stated, it is in a lot of ways the darkness to Golden Hour's light. The opening title track even states, "...and then the darkness came." As also previously stated, Golden Hour is primarily about Kacey's ex-husband Ruston Kelly and her blossoming relationship with him, whereas star-crossed is primarily about their split and divorce. It opens with the aforementioned title track, which is, hands down, one of the best songs of her career thus far, definitely the most haunting. As I said, it's emotionally haunting, not only because of its ghostly chanting at the beginning and its sorrowful melody but also because of its atmospheric instrumental, featuring softly strumming Spanish guitar, harp, and electronic warbling paired with subdued electric guitar. It is one of Kacey's more ambitious songs and is definitely, as I said, one of her most emotional. It works so well as the opening track, especially with the opening line being "Let me set the scene, two lovers ripped right at the seams," an obvious reference to Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Romeo + Juliet (with Kacey herself saying in her interview with Zane Lowe that the album is a tragedy in three acts). At the very beginning of the next song, in fact, titled "good wife," we hear Kacey's filtered voice say just above a whisper, "Let's go back to the beginning." "good wife" is an acoustic track peppered with electronic production and features such a melodically powerful and catchy chorus, with Musgraves borrowing some of what works on Golden Hour with her electronically filtered vocals. Upon first listen, it seems to be a submissive song, desiring to be a "good wife" in a traditional patriarchal sense: "Wake him up nice and slow, bring him coffee in bed," she describes in the first verse. "Listen to his problems, tell him that I understand." However, when the song is paired with the visuals of its music video (featured in the star-crossed film on Paramount+) along with a song featured later on the album, I think that it becomes clearer that it's meant to be somewhat subversive, possibly even suggesting that that pull toward being a more traditional wife could be in part what led to the split.

"cherry blossom" is one of my favorite songs on the album, and with Kacey having said in that interview with Zane that "good wife" was one of the first songs written for star-crossed (with it, in fact, actually having been written close to the end of Golden Hour's cycle), I definitely think that "cherry blossom" might have been written right around the same time, especially since I can clearly hear it being on Golden Hour in my head, as it would work both musically and thematically. It is, in my opinion at least, one of her most poppiest songs to date, with a poppy beat and a bit of a Western influence in the production (which is not coincidental given that Japan is known for its cherry blossoms and that Musgraves even directly name drops Tokyo in the chorus: "I hope you haven't forgotten Tokyo wasn't built in a day"). "simple times" kind of briefly steps away from the star-crossed lovers story to address nostalgia and, as the title would suggest, missing when things were (or at least seemed) simpler. It's another ridiculously catchy number and is another highlight for me, featuring an empowering music video with guest stars such as Victoria Pedretti (of The Haunting and You fame) and drag queen Symone. I love the sing-songy chorus and feel-good energy of the song, with my favorite part being the fluttering instrumental part following the chorus. With "star-crossed" having been the first single released from the album, "justified" was the second, and it's yet another highlight for me, possibly even my second favorite track next to "star-crossed." It is lyrically one of the rawest and most brutally honest songs of Kacey's catalog so far, examining the various emotions that one feels during a time of grieving: "If I cry just a little and then laugh in the middle," she jauntily asserts in the chorus, "if I hate you and then I love you and then I change my mind, if I need just a little more time to deal with the fact that you shoulda treated me right, I'm more than just a little justified." The song is one of many examples of why I don't agree with Kacey's stance that star-crossed is more country-influenced than Golden Hour is, as it is yet another poppy song. Although there is soft acoustic guitar throughout, there is also a heavy classically pop beat in the chorus.

I do want to briefly call attention to "angel" because it is the song that I mentioned earlier that I think of as a sister song to Golden Hour's "Wonder Woman." On "Wonder Woman," Musgraves asserts that while she does her best to be a great partner to her significant other, she is only human and can't be perfect. The theme on "angel" (a slow, acoustic ballad with thunder sound effects and Kacey's soft and delicate voice nearly drowning out the softly strumming guitar) is similar: "If I was an angel," she laments in the opening, "I wouldn't have to try. So hard to save you or show you how to fly... You'd only get the best of me." I briefly alluded to the next song on star-crossed earlier in this review when I said that there was a song later on the album that functioned as somewhat of an antithesis to "good wife," and that is "breadwinner." "breadwinner" is melodically one of the more playful and jaunty tunes on the album, and it addresses an ex-lover (likely Ruston Kelly) who doesn't bring in as much money as she does and eventually feels insecure about not being the primary provider. The earlier mentioned "good wife" music video depicts a militant school teaching young women how to be proper, subservient wives (which is why I made the statement that the song is most likely meant to, on some levels, be sarcastic and subversive), while the music video for "breadwinner" (the only music video released thus far that is not directly taken from the star-crossed film) fittingly depicts Kacey and her friends and colleagues working and having fun behind the scenes of the star-crossed film. star-crossed then offers up "camera roll," and it's hard for me to choose between "justified" and "camera roll" when it comes to my second favorite song from the album. "camera roll" is so hauntingly beautiful and emotionally devastating, with atmospheric synth and acoustic guitar that gently flutters in a way that almost makes it sound like harp. It almost sounds like a lullaby, but its lyrics, as I said, are a gut-punch, and I think that it's a song to which I think a lot of people can relate - not wanting to delete photos of someone no longer in our lives because we aren't ready to completely let go even though they're painful. "Don't go through your camera roll," she warns us at the very beginning of the song, and to paraphrase Yoda, if into the camera roll you go, only pain will you find.

The final act of the album is the weakest part of the album in my opinion, although I do really like "what doesn't kill me" and "there is a light." I really like how the album reaches a really hopeful note as it approaches its conclusion. In the acoustic but poppy "what doesn't kill me," Kacey exuberantly exclaims that "what doesn't kill me better run," and I love how she name drops the preceding album in the pre-chorus: "I've been to hell and back. Golden hour faded black." (Starting to better understand why I am reviewing these two albums together?) I really like "there is a light" because it's another really ambitious one. Like "High Horse," it's almost like it can't decide what genre of music that it wants to be, bringing in elements of pop, country, disco, and even a little bit of jazz. The song is thematically similar to "what doesn't kill me" as it lyrically addresses coming out of hardship stronger, and my favorite part is near the end of the song when Kacey sort of half sings and half speaks that "there is a light inside of me, uh-huh" over an aggressively oscillating flute. The album then closes with a cover of Violeta Parra's "gracias a la vida," a great way to close the album as it put a nice cap on the last few tracks that are more hopeful in nature. The song, entirely in Spanish, expresses gratitude to life (the song title translates to "thanks to life") for everything that it has provided (which reminds me a lot of "Oh, What a World," although the original version of "gracias a la vida" is a really tragic song given that it was one of the last that Parra wrote and recorded before her suicide). This cover version's production quality and style repeatedly changes (although it is consistently driven by acoustic guitar), something that Kacey addresses in the oft mentioned interview with Zane Lowe. Despite the fact that she has come under fire for choosing a Spanish song to cover even though she is not Latinx (a ridiculous attack if you ask me especially given the numerous white musicians who have covered "Feliz Navidad") and was also accused of not properly accrediting Parra, Kacey also, in that interview, explained her reasoning for choosing this song to cover and also absolutely brings Parra into the conversation. Overall, I think that Golden Hour is a stronger album, but I love both so much and can't wait to see what's next.