Earlier this month, country singer Kacey Musgraves was introduced to a whole new audience when she won four awards at the 61st Grammy Awards. The biggest award she won was for Album of the Year for her critically acclaimed fourth studio album, Golden Hour. Thanks to her wins, the album is expected to re-enter the Billboard Top 200 album chart this week, most likely in the Top 15, after scoring a 350 to 400% gain in equivalent album units.
Although many new fans are likely to be impressed with Musgraves' considerable singing and songwriting talents, they may not realize that tracks on the album like “Slow Burn” and “Mother” were actually inspired by an acid trip.
Back in October, Musgraves recalled writing “Slow Burn” in a video interview with The New York Times.
“I came up with the chorus on a spiritual journey, so to speak,“ she said to the Times, before later clarifying she was referring to LSD. "I think anything that puts me, or any human, outside of their egotistical state of living is a really healthy thing now and then, in moderation obviously. I was just sitting on my front porch thinking and I was just like, ‘Man, I love a slow burn.’
On the song, Musgraves sings about her life in Tennessee:
In Tennessee, the sun’s goin' down
But in Beijing, they’re heading out to work
You know the bar down the street don’t close for an hour
We should take a walk and look at all the flowers
During that same acid trip, Musgraves went on to write “Mother.” Last April, during an interview with EW, she went on to detail writing that song saying:
I went on a fun acid trip and ended up writing the song ‘Mother.’ I got really tripped out thinking about my mom — she actually texted when I was tripping — and it made me nostalgic and emotional. I started thinking about the cycle of moms and life. I just got super-heady about it, and I wrote it all down, and the next day I finished the song. Psychedelics can make you feel like a grain of sand. It’s good for your ego. I would obviously never want anyone to do anything that doesn’t suit them. But it inspired me, and it ended up being a mainstay inspiration on the album.
Fans of country shouldn’t be surprised by the revelation that Musgraves' music has been inspired by drugs. According to a 2017 study by Addictions.com, country music sings more about drugs than any other genre.
However, acid has played a role in hip-hop music as well. Artists like Chance the Rapper, Flatbush Zombies, and A$AP Rocky have all talked about using the drug in their music or in interviews.
Read all the lyrics to Kacey Musgraves Grammy-award winning album Golden Hour on Genius now.
