Kacey Musgraves - 2013 Anticipation

My anecdotal take is that one's reaction to this one is directly related to one's reaction to the last one. If someone thought Golden Hour was the Best Album Ever, they will probably love this as more of the same. If they thought Golden Hour was a step down (or away) from the first two, then they may not like this one that much, either. I wonder if this fits with the first album theory, that one's take on an act often depends on which album in the discography they heard first?

it doesn't look like her winter tour is selling well

You mean because they haven't instantly sold out? Could also be because she is charging superstar prices, $150 (plus fees) for modest seats in an arena (even more for better). Could also be covid, but it's probably the big leap up in venue size plus the high price.

who thought Golden Hour the Best Album Ever?

I dunno, I got the feeling the album received a ton of love and was at least considered by many to be a breakthrough, minting a bunch of Kacey Musgraves fans that weren't necessarily there for the first albums, winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, made her a style icon and/or star, etc. I assume it's why she is touring arenas and not clubs (or even theatres). Last place I saw her was behind Pageant Material, and it was ... 1500 seats?

$150 for arena seats? I love Kacey but even with COVID out of the equation I wouldn't pay that much to see her.

And those are the mid, 200 level seats and far back floor! United Center nosebleeds are closer to $70 each, before fees.

I mean, good for her, but I guess I didn't realize she was at that level quite yet.

She played the Chicago Theatre in March 2019. I totally forgot she was a Lollapalooza headliner that summer. Regardless, ever since bands like the Arcade Fire and Black Keys and Bon Iver started playing the United Center I have no idea what even constitutes an arena act anymore.

That's nuts. Seen her a few times and don't think I ever paid more than $30, albeit pre-Golden Hour.

I mean ... she's probably 5X bigger now than she was pre-Golden Hour. Maybe more.

$150 is obviously a lot for a ticket, but considering what some second- and third-tier acts charge in my city, I ain't even blinking at $70 (before fees) just to get in the room.

the issue here tho is that shes just... not very good live

She's good enough, but (go figure) pretty chill. The first time I saw her, in a tiny club in 2013, she covered Weezer. Could not imagine her in an arena, but if I've learned anything over the years it's that good, bad or indifferent live, once a band clicks with a big block of fans they'll react to you like you're the Beatles no matter how you do on stage.

If it was the Milwaukee show, I was there, too. (Don't remember her playing Chicago that tour?)

Caramanica review:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/arts/music/kacey-musgraves-star-crossed-review.html

i can't believe anyone thinks "butterflies" is this classic masterpiece of a song

xpost She played Joe's Pub here. I won a poster!

"butterflies" is easily one of the weakest on golden hour yeah but it's still fine

“butterflies” is kinda the skeleton key of sorts to golden hour for me in that it really should be a chintzy, grating song but there’s all these little production flourishes and an overall grace and lightness of touch throughout that make it not just tolerable but enjoyable for me. it’s still prob in the bottom 3 or 4 on the album if i was ranking but it’s the one i look at and say “i should hate this but they were so locked in that it really works”

yeah i agree with that

"Love Is a Wild Thing" is the best

we could poll the album(s)

Butterflies is a bright blissful moment and rather in the top 4-5 for me - if it makes any sense to rank songs here. I think it takes talent to make a song so simple and striking, and you really need the voice if you bring it in the spotlight with so light an instrumentation. A little bit like Newsom's having Easy and '81 to open HOOM.

There was a good Switched on Pop about "Butterflies" that talked about how the production mirrored the lyrics in a bunch of subtle and creative ways.

@Josh, don't know how I missed that...we (and probably half of the audience) got to do the meet and greet in Milwaukee, which is a fun little time capsule to look back on.

lol not "Joe's Pub," here it's just "Joe's on Weed," iirc, my bad. Only time I've been there. Right by Improv Olympics (I think?) and a few gentlemen's clubs.

Yeah, I knew what you meant :)

i saw her at the Apollo. Good show!
i do not like this album at all unfortunately.

i like this album and think it's probably one of her better ones (not that any of them are awful)

She's on SNL tomorrow night, FYI.

After a few more listens this is easily my least favorite of her albums (the others are all As in my book), but I very much like a lot of the second half from "Breadwinner" on and appreciate that she had the opportunity to really step out into a bigger pop star role and do something much bigger and bolder and gave us a fairly understated record.

Bigger! Bolder! Boring!

i keep getting asked in interviews if selling out still exists and i think we can definitively say: it does not. pic.twitter.com/fpFqqsj1UD

— Dan Ozzi (@danozzi) November 16, 2021

To be fair, Willie Nelson did one of these a decade ago. Did Ozzi call him a sell out too?

can't believe Kacey defied her strongly-stated anti-capitalist values

Here are the two videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6rHos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnwzRmqbWwE

Even granting the evanescence of the hype cycle, this album vanished fast, eh

Y'all should be ashamed to question Kacey - everyone knows non-profits like Chipotle are all that's left to save America's farmers.

Remember when RZA partnered with Chipotle to launch "SAVOR.WAVS, an Immersive Musical and Visual Journey into Chipotle’s 51 Real Ingredients"? Remember how "As the creative visionary behind SAVOR.WAVS, RZA composed sounds using various instruments inspired by each of the 51 real ingredients Chipotle uses to make its food"? I'd love to hear what Ozzi thinks about it.

lol, I don't care that she did this, I just think it's funny to think of Kacey Musgraves covering Coldplay in a Chipotle (I mean, @ChiptoleTweets) ad (I mean, "short film") meant to raise awareness about family farms. It scans like a parody.

remember when frank ocean agreed to sing a song for chipotle but then pulled out at the last min bcuz their logo was on the ad and so they sued him for their money back and got fionna apple to do it instead? i guess kacey is in good company

https://pitchfork.com/news/54297-frank-ocean-to-chipotle-fuck-off/

Back when Willie needed the money...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCWYQmUAKxo

Outlaws eat pizza the wrong way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJjrmAT0Bkw

remember when Pizza Hut offered decent pizza

i will say, $450k for this kind of thing seems low... maybe the price has gone up since 2014

It's comparable to what he might have got at the time for a movie song.

Song and video are good. Nice message. Delicious burritos. What's not to like.

i say this not out of some sort of anti-corporate, anti-chain position - though i am very much both of those things, i also eat McDonald's sometimes and Pizza Hut occasionally and Jimmy John's despite its big-game-hunting asshole of a founder or whatever - but I have *never* had anything that tasted good at Chipotle.

what am i doing wrong?

Get the salad, with 2x chicken, rice, no beans, corn (no salsa), light cheese, and 2 dressings. Chips and guac on the side.

^forgot to say - add fajita veggies (that's important).

xxp You may not be doing anything wrong, they salt the shit out of everything. I would get the salad with ONE serving of chicken on top of the rice, corn and cheese just because the lettuce and everything else will help alleviate the saltiness of the meat, and get a large drink to help wash it down.

To be fair, Chipotle is a huge upgrade over Taco Bell, but you're better off going to a real Mexican restaurant if there's one nearby.

they're boosting America's salt farmers!!

I don't know folks, this started out mocking Kacey but now we're genuinely discussing Chipotle menu items. Somewhere out there is a VP of Marketing who deserves their bonus.

Here's some anti-marketing: Never go into a Chipotle after 7pm. It's bad news.

(*I semi-stole this observation from someone's tweet)

I forgot about this, but the very last time I went to the local Chipotle in Chicago, I saw this fly land in the chicken. I told someone working there, and she misunderstood and said, "oh, you want chicken?" and immediately stirred it up, essentially burying the fly in there. I was like "NO NO NO!" I tried explaining and even though they didn't understand, I managed to get them to remove the chicken tray. I didn't see them throw it away though, they did it with intense skepticism, so for all I know, they put it back after I left. I never went back because all I can think about after that was eating a burrito with a fly in it.

At least it wasn't a factory farmed fly...