Kacey Musgraves‘ latest album Golden Hour is probably the worst album that she’s made since garnering widespread acclaim in 2013 with Same Trailer Different Park. It is also a fantastic mix of country and pop that is produced wonderfully and leaves you in a positive love-filled mood…if you’re already in a positive love-filled mood. Clearly, I am a fantastic salesman.

Let me backtrack a bit. Kacey Musgraves is a country singer who has received prominence by writing down-to-earth lyrics about the little moments in life, ranging from living life in a small town to a more melancholic perspective of dysfunctional families. She made pretty blunt statements that are often glossed over in favor of romanticizing the Southern life. You can tell based on this that it would be really surprising to see her sing all about how great love is in vague descriptions, but that’s exactly what she did. Is it bad? Well, no, it’s just an extreme turn away from the honest and crass lyrics that we’ve gotten only just a few years ago.

So, what is there to really like about Golden Hour? To start, I still listen to the album once in a while, when I want to have an upbeat album in the wave of negativity, in music and elsewhere. Golden Hour was the first album that made me remember that an album doesn’t have to be angry and melancholic to be good; and Janelle Monáe further proved that point shortly after Musgraves released her album. It’s goofy fun that’s well made and still has the sincerity of Musgraves that she’s best known for.

My favorite song is “Love Is A Wild Thing.” The song personifies love as a natural force that cannot be controlled and should be embraced (“Running like a river trying to find the ocean | Flowers in the concrete.”) It’s not the most interesting song from the album, but it’s most complete. I really like the small synth-like chimes at the end that add to the landscape visualized with a playful journey vibe.

Not impressed with NATURE?

This is a very queer site, so, of course my second recommendation is a song that tells you to not worry about when “the straight and narrow gets a little too straight.” “Follow Your Arrow” is probably where most people know Musgraves from as it got a lot of attention for being a gay-positive country song (keep in mind this was 2013.)

This song also will give you a good impression as to the outward looking lyrics that she made prior to Golden Hour. In a way, I miss her playful wit, but I think the album we got has a lot of great moments and I hope you give any of Musgraves’ albums a shot.

Yes, even the Christmas album. There’s a song where her and Willie Nelson talk about getting “higher than the angel at the top of the tree.”