Country queens Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert team up on the new song “Horses and Divorces” on Musgraves’ upcoming album, Middle of Nowhere, which releases Friday (May 1). And in a new cover story with Variety, Musgraves opened up not only about the inspirations for her new album, but also about previous tension between the two native Texans and Grammy-winning country artists.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
Fans have long speculated about a strained connection between the two artists, and that the beef stemmed from Lambert’s 2011 song “Mama’s Broken Heart,” a song that Musgraves cowrote (alongside Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally). At the time, Musgraves had yet to earn her breakout hit and had plans to record “Mama’s Broken Heart” herself. However, she had been persuaded to let Lambert record the track instead. The song became a top 10 Billboard Country Airplay chart hit, which also led to several more awards wins for Lambert. Meanwhile, Musgraves did go on to earn her own breakthrough hit in 2013 with “Merry Go ‘Round” from her debut album, Same Trailer, Different Park.
During the Variety interview, Musgraves confirmed that there was, indeed, beef between the two singers. “It was grass-fed, grade A,” Musgraves said.
“I mean, it’s real and that’s why I love this song, because it’s not coming from some contrived place in a writing room,” Musgraves said of “Horses and Divorces.” “We’ve come together after years of really, honestly, not being friends. I had this idea one day when I saw her on Instagram, riding one of her horses, and I thought, ‘Well, I guess we have two things in common: horses and divorces.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, that’s a song.’ Then I took it a step further: ‘What if I write it with her? What if it’s a duet? F–k it, I’m gonna reach out.’ I hadn’t spoken to her in years and was like, ‘Hey, I have this idea. If anybody would get it, it would be you. We’ve had our s–t over the years, but this would be really funny.’ And she was like, ‘I’m down.’ I was like, ‘Look, I’m not trying to be your friend, but we should write this song at least.’”
Musgraves added that the writing session for “Horses and Divorces” was healing.
“In our writing session, Miranda said, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t have the career that I have without [“Mama’s Broken Heart”], and I’m really grateful for it,’” Musgraves recalled. “So it was very full circle … It was a plot twist that even I did not see coming, so it really surprised me too. We talked about everything, and we’re both older now and have less energy for dumb s–t. I don’t love having weirdness with anyone out there.”
Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere also features collabs with Billy Strings, Willie Nelson and Gregory Alan Isakov.
Meanwhile, Lambert has just teased an upcoming announcement of her own — seemingly new music — as her website allows fans to redirect to a site titled countryanddisco.com, and has a presave option, as well as a countdown.
