Kacey Musgraves sits down with Kelleigh Bannen for a special episode of Today’s Country Radio for The Deeper Well Interview on Apple Music Country. Throughout the hour of music and conversation, the two dive into the themes and inspirations behind Kacey Musgraves new album Deeper Well, including anxiety, death, nature and rebirth, and she shares her grandma’s reaction to her bearing it all on the alternate album cover.
Kacey Musgraves Tells Apple Music About Her Grandma’s Reaction to Her Bearing It All on the Alternate Cover of ‘Deeper Well’…
I just randomly had this idea… Because it was a big, wide open green space. And I was like, “What if I was just really small?” Like in the fetal position, sort of, into the earth… And it’s just sort of vulnerable and almost like rebirth, I guess. But yeah, I was showing my parents and my grandparents the photos that my sister had taken. And then the naked one came up and Nana was like, “Gasp!” Like she just saw a car wreck, basically. And she was like, “No!” She was like, “That’s not… that’s a cover?” And I was like, “Yeah, it’s one of the covers.” And she was like, “Kacey, you’re a singer, not a stripper.” And I was like, “Well, you know what? You can be both.”
Video courtesy of Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country
Kacey Musgraves Details to Apple Music What Inspired the Music on ‘Deeper Well’…
There wasn’t like some aha moment that inspired it but I think just, over the years, getting older, relationships, friendships transitioning, changing. And then therapy, learning a lot about yourself through that. And you’re kind of gathering these ideas, and they’re sort of making this broader picture. And then zooming into the little moments of all of that, I think… It’s very warm and vulnerable. There’s a lot of open space. It really just cuts to the core of the human experience for me. And this album, I would say it’s human as f***, it’s organic. I think it’s rooted in nature. But there’s little modern bits and bobs throughout the record.
Kacey Musgraves Tells Apple Music What Inspired Her to Write “Sway”…
There’s been times in my life where, due to whatever, the relationship I was in this, that, or the other, I felt out of control or I felt like the situation was just going down a road that I wasn’t sure about. And so I think that when you’re fearful, you control more, you dig in more. And I think the happiest times in my life have been when I’ve felt like I didn’t have to do that and I could just flow and roll with whatever nature is bringing up next and not worry so much about what’s ahead. And I think it’s a work in progress… “Sway” isn’t saying, “Oh, I’ve nailed it. Now I’m this Jedi Zen master and anything that comes my way, I’ve got.” But it’s like saying, “That’s my goal. That’s where I’m headed,” at least.
Kacey Musgraves Tells Apple Music About the Inspiration Behind “Lonely Millionaire”…
I think the deeper I get into my career or making money or having success, the more I feel drawn to the real stuff that has nothing to do with all of those things. I’m not going to lie. Being able to pay your bills is nice, obviously. Money can make things easier, but it’s not going to fix an underlying issue or create a sense of happiness or security that wasn’t already there.
Kacey Musgraves Tells Apple Music She’s Been Trying to Put the Feelings Behind “Dinner with Friends” Into Words for a Long Time…
It’s a thing I’ve been trying to put into words for a long time. I guess you could say melancholy or bittersweet or whatever, but it’s really just happy and sad. And to me there’s always so much sadness in beauty, because beauty, it fades. It’s like, “Ugh, it’s going to be over.” You know what I mean?
Kacey Musgraves Admits to Apple Music That There’s an Underlying Theme of Death on ‘Deeper Well’…
It wasn’t a conscious effort. But I zoomed out after I had these songs, and I was like, “Wait, there’s a lot of… yeah, there’s a big subject matter here about dying and what happens on the other side.” I don’t know. I just think about it a lot. It’s so trippy that you can be here one minute and then not the next. I think it makes your life just more beautiful in those little moments. So much more meaningful, knowing that, again, it could be over in a second. You just don’t know.
Kacey Musgraves Talks to Apple Music About “The Architect”…
It’s just my little dumb opinion. There’s a million out there. And it’s like, I don’t know, I’m just observing life as I see it and putting it into song. But yeah, I don’t ever want it to feel preachy or anything like that. I’m just asking the questions I feel like everyone else is also just bumbling around asking as well.