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Kacey Musgraves’ star-crossed album chronicles split from Ruston Kelly, but she started writing it pre-divorce

By Carena Liptak Aug 26, 2021 | 3:00 PM


Interscope Records/UMG Nashville

In a new interview with The New York TimesKacey Musgraves reflects on the timeline of making her new album, star-crossed. Structured as a three-act tragedy, the project revolves her summer 2020 divorce from fellow artist Ruston Kelly. But she began writing it before then.

Kacey reveals that the first track she wrote for the upcoming album was “Good Wife,” a meditation on the expectations that come with being in a relationship, which she created while she and her now-ex were still together.

Now, she explains, she sees the songs on the album as her way of discovering her feelings about her breakup in real time. Ruston hasn’t heard the album yet, the singer tells the New York Times, which even includes some sentiments she hasn’t worked through with him.

“People have come to know me as someone who really speaks my mind,” Kacey muses. “Why is it easier to tell an entire crowd of people what I think than someone who really knows me?”

Kacey will release star-crossed, along with an accompanying film, on September 10. When she announced the album, she dropped the title track, which is also the first song on the track list.

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