The Singles Bar: Kacey Musgraves tears you from your ‘High Horse’

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

I think we’ve seen enough of not giving women enough credit for their musical achievements. Kacey Musgraves is the newest target, armed with her disco-spun club-floor jam “High Horse,” a candied mix of Bee Gees and Donna Summer delight. The latest taste of her forthcoming third studio set, Golden Hour (dropping this Friday), it’s Musgraves at her glossiest. While absorbing her classically-barbed, unapologetic lyricism into a dazzling hybrid swirl, she spreads her proverbial wings and takes flight. “Oh, I bet you think you’re John Wayne / Showing up and shooting down everybody / You’re classic in the wrong way / And we all know the end of the story,” she carves out on the opening stanza, the glittery funk sprinkling onto her shoulders.

Acoustic guitar and swells of drums cling to the melody like a baby with a binky. It’s undeniably Musgraves but illustrates her luster underneath the pop microscope. You begin to wonder exactly what kind of impact Katy Perry, especially, has had on her song craft. The pair teamed up for a CMT Crossroads session back in 2014, and Musgraves hopped aboard Perry’s Prismatic World Tour a few months later. Additionally, Musgrave’s is set to open for Harry Styles this summer. From the gaudy and rainbow-cut stage production to songs immersed in chewy pop textures, it isn’t too surprising Musgraves would make some bold shifts in her own work. And it’s not like she’s abandoned her signature writing style. It’s still there; you just have to dig underneath the shimmering sequins and ’70s euphoria to find it. Here, she harpoons hipsters, buzz-kills and all-around know-it-alls with sharp-witted precision.

“‘Cause everyone knows someone who kills the buzz / Every time they open up their mouth,” she parses between whirling vocal layering and well-chiseled grooves. “Yeah, everyone knows someone who knows someone / Who thinks they’re cooler than everybody else,” she sings on the hook, a tart edge intertwined with the melody’s sticky frosting. “And I think we’ve seen enough, seen enough / To know that you ain’t ever gonna come down / So, why don’t you giddy up, giddy up / And ride straight out of this town / You and your high horse.”

Historically, disco-country is nothing new. Dolly Parton did it. Kenny Rogers did it. Reba McEntire did it. The Eagles. Jerry Reed. Bille Jo Spears. The list goes on and on and on. “I was inspired by a thought of a world where all these ideas could come together musically and still translate as good songs if I sat down and played them on my guitar,” the singer-songwriter expressed.

“High Horse” comes on the heels of “Butterflies” and “Space Cowboy,” a stunning and vulnerable ballad about a lonesome troubadour. Golden Hour is shaping up quite nicely, indeed.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

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