Any true Kacey Musgraves fan knows that the 33-year-old Grammy Award-winning country singer is an ally for the LGBTQ+ community and has been for a long time. She makes her stance on discrimination very obvious and talks about it on social media.
Recently, Musgraves had an interview with fellow singer Fancy Hagood in an episode of Trailblazers Radio. In the Apple Music Country series, she spoke about making room for queer people in her career and noted that, in summary, “It doesn’t matter what walk of life you’re from, you experience love and emotions just like everyone else.”
Fans also wanted to know how her journey as a gay ally started, and she had interesting answers to their questions. Keep reading to see what else Musgraves had to say.
Kacey Musgraves’ Journey Began ‘Accidentally’
While speaking with Hagood, not only did she spill the beans about the inspiration for her journey, but Musgraves also explained that she faced a lot of backlash in the process. She also told fans that she didn’t plan to be an ally, and it just randomly happened.
Musgraves said, “I think it just accidentally happened. I didn’t go into it thinking, ‘Ooh, I want to be a gay icon. I want to do this. I want to do that. I want to break all the rules.’” In the interview, she told fans that her first encounter with many queer people was when she moved to Nashville.
“When I moved to Nashville, I made a lot of friends in the gay community and my eyes were opened up in a lot of ways to how wonderful that community is,” she said. She also remembered feeling more at home with her new friends than in Texas, where she was raised.
The Experiences Inspired Her
She also recalled being “inspired” to write about her real-life experiences, which meant including queer people in some of her lyrics. “Naturally, some songs came out that were inspired by that.”
She continued, “I was like, ‘They have to be included.’ If we’re talking about a genre that is supposedly built on real life and real stories about real people, why would this one thing be excluded?”
Musgraves also noted that it would’ve been weird to leave out the LGBTQ+ community since they made up a large part of her good experiences. And that they were no different from everyone else. “That’s a narrative that just doesn’t make sense to not be there,” she said.
Musgraves Received Backlash
According to the singer, she has received immense backlash for some of her songs, especially “Follow Your Arrow” and “Merry Go Round,” two songs off her 2013 “Same Trailer Different Park” album. Musgraves revealed that she had to fight for the songs to be included in the album, even though she was discouraged from it.
“It was definitely told to me that it would go down in flames, it would tank on the radio, it would this, that, and the other, and I really didn’t care because I knew it would mean more than those things if people got to hear it,” she said, “I guess in some senses it did kind of tank on the radio.”
Despite the challenges, Musgraves told fans that “it did more for [her] even what a chart-topping hit could do.” And the encouragement from listeners ever since has made it a memorable experience for her.
Kacey Musgraves’ Music Inspired LGBTQ+ Fans
Musgraves was very excited to receive compliments from fans for the same criticized songs. She revealed in the episode that “A lot of people have said” that they liked her music, and she didn’t realize it until they said it. She said their compliments “really made an impact on me.”
She quoted a fan’s comments: “Your music makes me feel I’m finally invited to a party that I’ve always wanted to be invited to.” Musgraves also explained that her love for country music grew because fans could relate to her lyrics.
She said, “It sounds cliché at this point, but love is love. Again, one of the reasons I love country music is because it is about real life, it is about real stories and real people, and that shouldn’t just include one set of people. One skin color, one political stance, one whatever, it should be everyone.”