Kacey Musgraves - Star Crossed (September 10, 2021) Album • Page 22

To be fair, a lot of the reviews on this very site (and others) follow this pattern and it drives me insane. "Track X is a more guitar driven song with lyrics "blah blah blah" setting the tone". Algo-writing. It's why I love the anecdotal style of guys like Craig. I want to know people's thoughts, connections, and opinions on the record - not a play by play.

 

I appreciate this!

 

yeah, and to be fair I don't really like reading any reviews hahaha. But yeah, the melon bro is especially dumb

 

Gonna echo the praise for Craig's reviews. He doesn't just make me want to hear the music, he makes me want to connect to it, regardless of genre.

 

Y'all are too kind. This is definitely the intention, though!

 

I kinda like the whole “instant reactions” threads that The Ringer does sometimes. Pretty transparent that they’re half-formed thoughts but from a variety of people.

Wish major publications did more of that for the immediate review and then flesh one out later on.

 

How?! That song is literally my wedding song. And hearing it live really captured the beauty.

I just don’t like the melody on that song. My least favorite on PM but that album is incredible so doesn’t mean I hate “Die Fun” just a song I’d skip sometimes.

I disagree. Yes her earlier albums had snark and wordplay but her last two are very soulful. She’s at her heart a very emotional person and I think the “falling in love” and “falling out of love” albums really reflect how much goes into those feelings.

I think the flute and auto tune and singing in Spanish all hit on expanded sound and variety. The album is a grower but I think it’s incredible. I will agree that it’s sometimes over produced but my god it’s produced so well and I love seeing her indulge. “Hookup Scene” is absolutely my favorite though, it’s so stripped down and heartbreaking.

 

I think Carly Pearce wins the 'Best Country Album About Divorce 2021' award

 

It’s the only one of the two that is actually a country album!

 

You know what I mean Craig!

I still think the vast majority of the public would identify Kacey as a country leaning artist - no matter how much the machine tries to soften the edges off her

 

I do know what you mean, haha. I haven’t had the chance to listen to the whole Carly album yet, but “Day One” is definitely the best breakup song I’ve heard this year.

 

29 is a great song - the 'live it up, live it down" line is a doozy

 

Solid actual sales figure.

 

unofficial breadwinner video is pretty fun

 

“Silver Lining”, “High Time” and “Slow Burn” are a killer trio of openers. Not sure still how I feel about “star crossed” but “good wife” is a highlight.

 

I've listened through this a couple times and have to agree with the sentiment in here. It's a perfectly "fine" album but in my opinion falls pretty short of what I expect from her. It's missing the "it" factor that her others have. I think it's mainly the lyrics. Again, they aren't bad, but outside of a couple spots they just feel kind of lifeless, like anyone could have written them. And considering this is her "divorce album", I was just expecting a lot of deeply personal and interesting lyrics.

 

I've continued to enjoy this more on each listen. I think it's just really not the album that anyone expected. But I'm coming to love how beautifully understated it is. I definitely thought it was going to be way more melodramatic, to really shoot for the "Shakespearean tragedy" theme that she had outlined, but instead it's just this wistful, hazy, melancholy pop record about a love story that just didn't work.

 

I may be alone on this thought but I could've easily done without the closer - which is traditionally my favourite song on most records.

I think if she really wanted to go through this character arc or 3-stage narrative she keeps pushing, it would have been wonderful for her to end on a song like There Is A Light, both in terms of composition and lyrical nature. I'm not sure if you all have heard/read what "gracias" is about or the original artist that recorded it, but it's a brutal note to end the record on in terms of emotion. Kind of flips the script on whatever she just talked about on There Is A Light.

 

Oh yeah that closer is awful

 

I don't think you're alone in that at all, nobody has really been in here defending the closer haha. Would've been a great deluxe edition addition though.

 

The closer feels like it got beamed in from the more melodramatic/Shakespearian tragedy version of the album that she seemed to be promising. It would work perfectly for that (and works pretty well as the other side of the coin to the title track), but since there's nothing else remotely in that emotional mode throughout the rest of the album, it ends up feeling tacked on.

 

This album really fell off my listening loop. Nothing really kept me around on it.

 

100% agree, the first and last track feel like bookeneds of a concept album that never materializes

 

i was gonna say i dont like "good wife" all that much because you just expect so much.....more after star-crossed which achieves this big climactic moment that makes way for.....a very vanilla pop song