I can't remember the last time I experienced this with an album. When I first discovered Golden Hour, I played just Slow Burn over and over for 3 straight weeks. Then it was Space Cowboy back-to-back for ages, until Oh, What A World de-throned it as the repeat. I loved listening to the album as a whole, but I definitely got to know it track-by-track.

On Middle of Nowhere though...

I cannot stop listening to this album over and over in its exact order. I keep thinking "this song is the best song, I need to repeat it" but by the time it ends, I'm way too excited to hear the next track. And I must be 20+ listens in at this point. No skips, no repeats.

I really think she nailed it on this one. It's so expertly laid out:

- Middle of Nowhere and Dry Spell pair together perfectly and set up the album.

- From Back on the Wagon to Everybody Wants to be a Cowboy is next level. Top tier storytelling, gorgeous sounds. So much range but feels very tightly connected.

- Horses and Divorces is the palette cleanser. Not perfect but catchy as hell. Gives a chance for a reset.

- From Uncertain TX to Mexico Honey is a generational run. No notes, sheer perfection. She gave her all and it shows.

- Hell on Me is the ultimate postscript. She marries Star-Crossed with STDP. It all comes together and feels like the perfect note to end on.

I truly thought she couldn't top Golden Hour for me, but this is a major contender.

For those who have read this popular book —

I couldn’t help but think “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy” would make a great song to accompany the future movie trailer!

Went to Walmart on Truxel Rd and they basically had the full collection including pjs, tshirts, charms, belts, etc. didn’t really see the denim items. Went to West Sac Walmart which only had limited tshirts and accessories. Picked up a T-shirt and bandana!

Vengo de México sólo a decir que qué hermoso suena el acordeón en Horses and Divorces y Uncertain TX. Kacey la más mexicana. AMO.

And for the ACM awards to put them BACK TO BACK was diabolical!!

I’m sorry but when Ella first came out I was like wow she’s good and she sounds like Kacey, but as I heard and saw more of Ella, I realized she does NOT actually have an accent, she developed it in 2022( same year Lainey Wilson was huge (also thick ass accent)) and her entire look, sound and vibe is a DIRECT BITE off Kaceys career. It’s not a coincidence , she’s a manufactured star and all the influenced people are that shit up.

It’s sad to see Kacey getting such little recognition over the years from country music, for Ella to come in and be objectively worse and literally just reheating Kaceys nachos.

Her head shake during her performance looked so dumb too.

All that being said I think Kacey should have performed a diff song off the new album.

I love Kacey, so I'm throwing this out there with love and curiosity about the music industry.

Pre-release, I saw the track titles on Middle of Nowhere and was super excited to see Billy Strings, Gregory Allan Isakov, and (of course) Willie featured.

But if I listened to this album without knowing these artists were featured, I don't know if I would've noticed their contributions on the first or even second listen...they're like background singers.

I'm not a music buff and maybe my expectations were too high, but I thought each of those songs would include a verse or overall sound that's more unique to the other artists' voice/style.

Especially compared to to the Miranda Lambert song, which was so distinctly a Kacey and Miranda collab.

I'm not saying I don't love those songs (I do so much), but I'm curious to hear other perspectives.

I just released my remix of “Mexico Honey” and wanted to share with you all!

I posted a preview of it last week on Instagram and Kacey reshared it on her story so I’m excited to share the full version with the (oh, what a) world! 🪩✨ Hope you enjoy!

Just an FYI - read the title.