Songs by Kacey Musgraves That Explore Personal Growth and Self-Acceptance

With eight GRAMMY Award wins and 17 nominations, seven ACM awards, and five CMA awards, Kacey Musgraves is a major force in the music industry. While primarily a country music artist, Musgraves carves her unique path in her songwriting style, often writing about troubled relationships, healing, and living by her own rules and standards. Songs such as “Slow Burn” and “Follow Your Arrow” reflect her open attitude about letting people make their own choices. From her early album Movin' On to her latest Deeper Well, she takes you on a journey with her unique style of emotional storytelling.

In 2018, Musgraves released her album Golden Hour, which won a GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year and received a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The album included songs of love, such as “Oh, What a World” and “Butterflies,” receiving Gold and Platinum certifications, respectively, from the RIAA.

Released in 2021, her follow-up album Star-Crossed has songs reflecting the pain of her divorce, including “if this was a movie..” and “good wife.” By 2024, Musgraves began her journey of healing and released her latest album, Deeper Well, which included the songs “Sway” and “Deeper Well.” You'll notice the gentle sound of finger-picking guitar on this album, with tranquil melodies that reflect her attitude of letting go and taking care of herself.

The single “Sway” is a deeply meditative song about being flexible in life, such as learning how to bend in the wind like a palm tree. This sixth track on Deeper Well has gorgeous melodies with an upbeat energy. Her vocals are ethereal and sweet, helping reflect her healing journey. There is a spiritual sense to this song, with perfect angelic-like harmonies. “Deeper Well” talks about letting go of bad habits and people with dark energy, and, instead, embracing her spirituality and self-control, which is her deeper well of healing and positive living.

In the stunning single “The Architect,” Musgraves takes in the wonders of the world and asks, “Who is the architect of life? Are there blueprints to the world, or do things happen by chance?” In this song, she questions life's purpose and how sometimes you just need faith to get you through life's messes.

While there are no definitive answers to the architect's plans or happenstance, the song makes you think about the beauty of life, including both the good and the bad. Musgraves co-wrote this song with famed Nashville songwriters Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne a few weeks after the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, where three students and three staff members were killed. As reflected in the song, how could an architect create something as beautiful as a canyon yet let a tragedy like a school shooting occur?

In an interview with NPR, she says about writing the song with her friends McAnally and Osborne, “…asking these questions — it's like, man, there's so much beauty in this world. But then there's just so much suffering. And it's just — it's confusing. It's, like, you want to — you wonder if there is a plan for any of this, or if — you know, what is there to be learned?”  Musgraves won Best Country Song at the 2025 GRAMMY Awards for this song.

For the opening track of Deeper Well, “Cardinal,” Musgraves sings about seeing a cardinal bird and asking the bird if it was bringing her a message from the other side. She asks the bird if someone who has died is thinking of her. In some cultures, the cardinal is symbolic of delivering messages from the departed as a way of letting the living person know that they are thinking of them.

Other tracks on this album also use nature and spiritualism to convey her introspective message, such as the song “Heart of the Woods.” This song talks about how plants communicate with each other underground, expressing the connection between all living things. The key themes of this song are interconnectedness and the essence of mutual support and protection, whether in nature or in society.

Emotional healing and vulnerability are themes that run through Musgraves's Deeper Well album. In the song “Giver / Taker,” she sings about the dynamics of a healthy relationship. The song starts with a gentle melody and simple guitar licks infused with sweet steel guitar swells. As the song progresses, the music builds like a relationship. This song speaks of the need for a deep emotional connection in a relationship, with giving and taking as the central theme.

Her song “Too Good to be True” speaks of vulnerability in a relationship, especially after a painful divorce. Musgraves sings about opening herself up to love and asking not to be hurt, especially after the honeymoon phase of a couple's relationship. She plays the acoustic guitar in this song, which perfectly accompanies her angelic voice.

After the pain and confusion of life, love, and redemption, you should enjoy life's simple moments. Musgraves expresses her appreciation of the daily things that we can easily miss if we don't slow down and take the time for moments like “Dinner with Friends.” These are the things she would miss when she dies.

In “Heaven Is,” she also sings about the simple things that make life like heaven, such as a lavender rose, coming home, and being in your loved one's arms. These songs inspire the listener to grab each moment in life before it's gone and to appreciate the love of friends, family, and lovers.

From Musgraves's Golden Hour to Deeper Well, we see how she has changed her songwriting style to reflect her emotional growth and direction. At heart, her music shows us that she is a tender soul with a deep emotional connection to nature, spirit, and others. We look forward to listening to her future work.