Kacey Musgraves Goes Barefoot at SNL
Kacey Musgraves wasn’t lying when the Cut cover star teased a return to a “more rootsy, folky, softer side.” Still largely known for her affinity for fringe, rhinestones, and old-school glamour, the 35-year-old country rebel has promised a more stripped-down Kacey in the leadup to her next studio album Saturn Return, due out March 15. No more good wife. No more gravity bongs. No more tortured poets. And, at least on Saturday night, no more shoes.
During a Sydeny Sweeney-hosted episode this weekend, the cosmically affected singer made her grand return to the Saturday Night Live stage, performing two singles from her upcoming album, “Deeper Well” and “Too Good to Be True.” This iteration of Musgraves’ pop persona isn’t so much glittering mall rat as it is Barefoot Contessa — especially as showcased in her live rendition of “Deeper Well,” in which Spacey Kacey came back down to earth in a quilted coat, sans shoes. Normally, I’d never advise anyone to give out free foot content (beware, the fetishists are hypervigilant), but Musgraves appears intent on living her life like a 12-year-old midwestern child running barefoot through the fields and crafting daisy chains. Good for her.
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— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) March 2, 2024
“I don’t regret living and loving as hard as I do,” Musgraves told the Cut this month. “Whenever I’m in a relationship, I’m all fucking in. I think that hesitancy breeds hesitancy, and if you go in with something with one foot, it’s going to fail. After divorce, it’s like on one hand I do want to self-protect, but at the same time, if your heart is feeling open, I think you have to just show up for it. I’m still trying to figure out the balance of that.”
In this case, living hard and going “all fucking in” means bringing the streets of New York City onto the SNL set via all ten exposed toes, and there is nothing more freeing than that. Besides, a toes-out performance was the only next logical step after Musgraves released a teaser video for Saturn Return riding bare horseback in the rain and walking among geese. Kacey may have given up weed, but the woman still deserves to feel the grass between her toes.
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