While Kacey Musgraves has yet to officially confirm that she’s in a relationship, a series of flirty social media exchanges between the country star and New York City-based writer Cole Schafer have had fans wondering if the two are dating.
In a sweet social media post marking Musgraves’ birthday on Saturday (Aug. 21), Schafer certainly makes that possibility seem awfully likely. He shared a series of black-and-white photos of himself and Musgraves together on Instagram, also offering up some words in celebration of her birthday and their relationship.
“…Here’s to you writing me back. Here’s to your jawline that chaps my lips and your hair I can’t keep my hands out of. Here’s to your aesthetic and your art being a close second to your heart,” Schafer writes in the caption of his post. “Here’s to you making it through thirty-two and here’s to you making history in thirty-three. It’s been so damn pretty falling for you, Kacey.”
Musgraves responded in the comments section with a message that was just as sweet, if a little more succinct: “Sweet angel boo. Life is so much prettier with you in it.”
The “High Horse” star was first linked to Shafer — a writer who runs ad copywriting shop Honey Copy and also publishes poetry — earlier in the summer of 2021, when they were photographed in New York City together, according to People. Since that time, flirty social media messages have abounded: Most tellingly, Schafer posted a black-and-white Polaroid of himself and Musgraves, arms around each other, captioned “I’m trying like hell not to write about her.”
Meanwhile, Musgraves has been hard at work on her upcoming new album, which will be the follow-up to her critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning 2018 project, Golden Hour. She has been teasing the new music for several months, also explaining in interviews that much of the inspiration behind the record comes from her 2020 divorce from fellow country artist Ruston Kelly.
On Saturday, Musgraves offered up some never-before-heard music and lyrics on social media, with lyrics that seem to directly reference her divorce. ”What have we done? / Did we fly too high? / Just to get burned by the sun? / No one’s to blame / ‘Cause we called all the angels to save us / Called them by their name / But I guess they got lost,” the new lines read in part.
When it arrives, Musgraves’ next album will be her fourth full-length studio project to date.
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