Kacey Musgraves on “broken” personal life after success of 'Golden Hour'

Kacey Musgraves has opened up about feeling sad and lonely in her personal life following professional success, including winning a Grammy for her album ‘Golden Hour’ (2018).

The singer-songwriter said in a new interview that she can’t fathom how much her life has changed in the years since her 2019 Grammy win, in which she divorced her husband, Ruston Kelly (who helped her with ‘Golden Hour’), moved house and wrote a new album.

“If you would’ve told me the night of the Grammys, ‘Hey, in two years, you’re going to be divorced and have a whole ‘nother album written,’ I would have been like, ‘Fuck off. No. No way,’” Musgraves told Elle magazine.

She went on to explain that the changes in her personal life, coupled with the isolating nature of a locked down world during a pandemic, led to despondent feelings. But she said she harnessed those emotions and took advantage of quarantining to write music.

“I could have coasted for another couple of years, just not paying attention to my feelings or not really dealing with some things,” she said.

“I felt, in many ways, on top of the world in my career, but in my personal life, I felt like I was dying inside. I was crumbling. I was sad. I felt lonely. I felt broken.”

Instead, she channelled those emotions into writing 40 news, 15 of which will appear on a new record expected to release this summer or early autumn.

“It’s daunting to put your emotions about something really personal on display,” she added. “I haven’t spoken much about this chapter, and I don’t feel like I owe that to anyone, but I owe it to myself as a creator to flesh out all these emotions that I’ve felt, and I do that through song.

“It would be strange if I didn’t acknowledge what happened in my life creatively, but it is scary to be like, ‘I’m about to share my most personal thoughts about me, about this other person, about a union that I had with someone.’ I mean, I’m not a ruthless person. I care about other people’s feelings. So it’s kind of scary.”

In other news, earlier this year the Texan songwriter sold a new T-shirt design that takes a swing at Texas senator Ted Cruz, who fled the state in the middle of a weather-related crisis. Profits from the sales were ringmarked for those affected by the winter storms.