Kacey Musgraves is setting the record straight for her fans, specifically those who latched onto her stoner persona. “It’s not for this chapter,” she told Allison P. Davis for The Cut recently, commenting on that line from her new single “Deeper Well,” which references her waking up, hitting her homemade gravity bong, and rolling out of bed to start the day, every day.
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In “Deeper Well,” Musgraves is getting rid of the habits that I feel / Are real good at wasting my time, much to the dismay of a certain stratum of her fans. However, she clarified, waking and baking were really the activities of 20-something Kacey Musgraves. Now, at 35, she’s more into micro-dosing psilocybin, meditating, and living like a garden witch in her forest cottage than smoking weed every day.
“I definitely feel way more grounded now than in the past,” Musgraves explained. “I feel like my feet are firmly planted on the ground, and no matter what comes my way and tries to rock me, I feel more planted, if that makes sense.”
Kacey Musgraves is Returning to Her Roots On Deeper Well
Musgraves spoke about intense meditation, physics, and the universe with a stranger during the interview, which painted a picture of a confident, settled, spiritual person. She’s clearly been working on herself, and it’s evident in her demeanor as well as her music. She sold the house she bought post-divorce (to Kelsea Ballerini, no less), moved to a cottage in the woods, and while that seems to be the perfect spot to write the folk-flavored Deeper Well, she actually created the new album in New York City.
Sometimes, inspiration comes when you’re in a completely different environment than the one you’re creating. A folksy, country-rooted album came about in the Big Apple, where Musgraves and her long-time collaborators, Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, found inspiration in weed and pizza smells, almost getting hit by a skateboarder, mantras blaring from Indian jewelry stores, Irish pubs, or just staying up talking, singing, and crying in her Bowery hotel.
Musgraves has been “craving a return back to the center,” she said, and Deeper Well is that return. A return to her folk-country roots and her spirituality, her confidence and mental health. For Musgraves, “Country feels like home to me.” She continued, “It may come and go trend-wise in other genres, but there’s always something really timeless to me about it, whether it’s popular in pop music or not.”
Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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