Kacey Musgraves says 'Star-Crossed' album helped her process her heartbreak

Musgraves called her new album a "rebirth" and a "clean slate."

September 9, 2021, 12:35 PM

Kacey Musgraves is looking forward to releasing "Star-Crossed" on Friday and, in a new interview, revealed how healthy it was for her to have poured her heart into making her fifth studio album.

The Grammy winner told Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe her new record is a "rebirth" and a "clean slate."

Musgraves' upcoming album acts as a diary, offering listeners vignettes of the many emotions she experienced after her three-year marriage with fellow singer Ruston Kelly ended.

"I feel like the past year I've gone through, I think it's the five stages of grief," she recalled, detailing how she experienced anger, depression and loneliness before arriving at "excitement and hope for the future."

Musgraves said she learned that "healing is not linear," adding, "It's very up and down, it comes in waves, and you just got to hold on through it."

"I've learned a lot about control through this whole thing," she continued. "You'd think that letting go would send you into even more of a spiral, but I think if you can learn to embrace it a little bit...it's been nice."

Above all else, Musgraves said creating "Star-Crossed" is what allowed her to finally heal and move on from the heartbreak.

"It took me back to ground zero in completely trying to just understand myself," she said. "I'm honestly really glad for the opportunity to acknowledge the relationship, acknowledge the love that I had, but move on and be better."

"Star-Crossed" drops Friday at midnight.