With long black hair, a kaleidoscope of colors shown through her whimsical outfits, and one of the most peaceful stage presences in music today, Kacey Musgraves is doing it all on her own terms and winning them all over by being the country girl that only she knows how to be. In only a year, Kacey has transformed from just a budding country artist to the ‘yeehaw’ queen of 2018. Kacey’s music, specifically her Grammy award-winning album Golden Hour, has done the impossible: make people who don’t like country music like country music. Emerson sophomore Erica Petrillo is someone who didn’t even realize that her music is country, “I had to be told by someone and even then I didn’t believe it because she really breaks the mold from what country music is “supposed” to sound and is on her own entire entity”. A growing pattern between people that have discovered Kacey, and people who have been fans since the beginning of her career, is that she represents something that seems to have been lost in country music in recent years: the liberated woman. 

It seems as though after the prime careers of the comparable Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, men have taken the reigns in the country music establishment and defined roles for how female country artists should act, what they should sing about, and how they should dress. Kacey recognizes this, acknowledges this, and actively rebels against it any moment she gets. Through this record, Kacey shines and shows that the future of country music is in the control of all artists, and not the male-controlled music establishment.

 In the first track of the album, Slow Burn, Kacey proclaims her independence.“I’m alright with a slow burn, taking my time / I’m gonna do it my way, it’ll be alright.” This calm nature of going about things the way you want to radiates onto her listeners and creates a fanbase, particularly of women, that want to come with her on this journey of self-discovery and liberation. “Her music brings a kind of warmth and calm into my heart at any point in the day, and I can’t say that about many artists,” says Emerson sophomore Somari Davis.

This almost psychedelic energy that Kacey translates to her music is a quiet rebellion against the molding in which female country artists have seemed to abide by. Speaking about her mental health, feeling lonely, drugs, and not exclusively talking about romance is a breath of fresh air that is one of the many reasons that people flock to her album that hits all the censored topics that female country artists have not traditionally talked about in the 21st century. With long black hair, a kaleidoscope of colors shown through her whimsical outfits, and one of the most peaceful stage presences in music today, Kacey is doing it all on her own terms and winning them all over by being the country girl that only she knows how to be.