On Tuesday night, Kacey Musgraves made country music history by being the first female in 4 years to win Album of the Year at the Country Music Awards. Now I understand and respect that you may not have a liking to country music. To be honest, I don’t have much of a taste for it either. However, I’m a huge Kacey Musgraves fan and this is a monumental moment. Regardless of your music taste, this a moment all women should acknowledge.
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The CMA’s have been running for 52 years. In those 52 years, only 6 women – including Kacey, have ever won this category. Among her are music legends such as Miranda Lambert (twice), Taylor Swift, Patty Loveless, Anne Murray, and Lee Ann Womack. Not only did she win the category, but she was the only female nominated in the category as well. She beat out 4 other male country artists to win her well-deserved award. What separates Kacey from the rest of the women in winner’s category is her album that won her the award, Golden Hour, received very little radio play. To top that, her album only sold 107,000 copies. Relating to Kacey’s little radio play, women make up only 10% of country music radio play. Country music massively under represents women. This has fortunately become addressed more in previous years and I’m hopeful this can help turn country music towards a more inclusive direction. This award represents progress in country music and women’s representation. It’s needless to say her album definitely carried its own weight proving that record sales and radio time don’t determine the fate of an album anymore.
Even though Kacey is classified as a country artist, her sound really stretches those parameters. Golden Hour has heavy disco and pop tones. She explained how she became inspired to write such a risky album “I just started imagining this land, musically, where it was possible to keep these elements of country music that are really intrinsic to my music, like pedal steel, banjo. I wanted to explore this new frontier for myself with kind of electronic elements and it’s a big mixture of a bunch of different things.” When listening to the album it makes you feel nostalgic, happy, and powerful all at the same time. In her acceptance speech, she told the audience “it’s inspired by just this beautiful universe, all of you, and just most of all, love.” I think this is one of the reasons why am I such a big fan of hers. Her vibe is very carefree, 60’s disco, colorful and fun. She definitely strums to the beat of her own guitar. If you haven’t already, check out her album on your favorite music platform. I hope her music stirs up the warm happy feelings inside of you as it does for me whenever I play one of her songs. Even more so, I hope her winning is inspiring to all women, country music fans or not.