Kacey Musgraves - Star Crossed (September 10, 2021) Album • Page 16

the flute solo fucking rules

this album is more sophistipop than pop and i couldn’t be happier

 

Ok, listened to this 1.5 times on my run this morning and it definitely clicked.

 

i'm choosing to interpret it as a preview of the all-bj burton-produced blown-out goth follow-up record we are assuredly promised j/k

 

holy shit dude, what?!?!? I can't think of any movie I have seen more times than Anchorman. Come over and I'll just recite the whole movie front to back for you

 

"hookup scene" is an astonishing song, and a perspective that i don't think i've ever heard on a breakup record before

 

idk man I was 7 when it came out I just never got around to it haha

 

I think the only movies I've seen as many times as Anchorman is Hot Rod and maybe Fellowship of the Ring.

I think people took me talking about the flute solo in There Is A Light as meaning the song isn't good, but the song is awesome. The flute solo reminding me of Anchorman can be a good or bad thing, YMMV.

 

I've seen Stepbrothers probably more than Anchorman at this point.

 

First time I was able to drive with it. Damn this sounds good in a car.

 

This is such a Summer record, it ain't even funny.

 

Alright so I can finally say how I feel: she did a great job of making her version of Red. This album really, really grows on you and in my opinion the writing is as good as anything she’s ever done. Her POV across the record is such a great extension of “Happy and Sad”.

The first time I heard it, I was disappointed because I felt like Kacey wasn’t committing to a direction (country or pop), but after sitting with it for a while I actually think the record is much more artfully constructed than Red, which oscillated wildly from pop to country and back. Honestly, the most “country” songs on the record (“angel”) are the biggest snoozes to me on repeat listens.

Also, it has been wild to listen to this record repeatedly in the lead up to my own wedding in a week.

 

"angel" is ridiculously beautiful imo

 

Holy shit, "camera roll" captivates a feeling I had a few years ago during a bad break up better than I thought possible. It's such a real thing and I've never heard someone tackle it in a song before.

 

"keep lookin' up" might be one of my favorite songs from this album. it's one of the best post-breakup songs i've ever heard and i wish that it was around in times when i needed a song like that.

one of my favorite things about kacey's songwriting is that she's always been able to tell such beautiful tales with her music and this album shines in that regard. i'm still sad it's essentially the "divorce album," but to follow up "golden hour" with this? absolutely stunning.

 

This is a solid album. Wasn’t sure about the direction the first couple songs but then it clicked and I started getting into it

 

IMO, it's much more of a pop record than Red, which I actually think is more stylistically cohesive (and more grounded in country songwriting) than it usually gets credit for. I only hear subtle traces of country on this record, whereas I think more than half of Red is pretty firmly grounded in Nashville sounds.

This isn't quite a 1989 pivot either, but it strikes me as being closer to that.

 

Like don't get me wrong, this album is fantastic, but Red is on a whole other level lol

 

Yeah hookup scene is a great tune for married people who think they have it bad sometimes. Made me feel a type of way. Wasn’t expecting it.

 

I've listened a handful of times now all the way through, and 14 out of 15 of these songs have gotten better and better for me each time.

The closer remains a head scratcher for me though. Strongly giving it the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like a song from an entirely different album. Lyrics being in an entirely different language, the heavily distorted vocals and it being one of the least interesting songs musically all feel like a lot to overcome.

I will say though that today "There Is A Light" hit for me 110%. No qualms about the extended flute solo at all anymore. It's fucking awesome.

 

I love this record

 

yeah I was gonna say, I even like the closer. close to a flawless record for me.

 

Weird comparison maybe, but the closer reminds me of The Mars Volta A LOT, from the ambiance to the Spanish lyrics to the gradual vocoder effect overwhelming everything.

 

I really like Hookup Scene and Camera Roll. Finding myself feeling pretty meh about everything else right now unfortunately