This article originally ran in March. We’re republishing it on August 2, 2024, in honor of Kacey Musgraves’s Deeper Into the Well, a deluxe version of Deeper Well.
Deeper Well, Kacey Musgraves’s fifth album, is her mellowest outing yet. She’s swung so far in the opposite direction from the theatricality of star-crossed and the synth-y jams of Golden Hour that these songs barely even have drums. “I think turning 35, you’re like, I have less time for superfluous shit,†Musgraves told the Cut. She wasn’t specifically talking about songwriting, but it tracks for Deeper Well’s spare folk songs. This is an album with little superfluous shit.
Except for “Anime Eyes.†The album’s penultimate song starts as unassuming as the others, with just a jaunty little guitar strum. Musgraves sings about her eyes becoming “a million little stars bursting into hearts†when she sees her love, like an anime character. Slowly, the song builds up: a drum patter in the second verse, some vocoder in the next chorus, and an acoustic guitar solo. Then, boom! The bridge is an explosion, as Musgraves lists off her feelings in rapid fire. It’s a release we’ve been waiting 13 songs for, and oh, is it worth it.
At the beginning, Musgraves is trying to make her feelings fit the song, still in tune and on beat. But as it goes on, she loses the rhythm and just starts shouting: “Happy tears overflowing / Lightning bolts so overwhelming / Ugly crying! Now I’m melting! / Turning into flowers blooming!†She goes from doing her best Dr. Seuss to channeling … the Fairly OddParents theme song? (No, really.) Just when it seemed like Spacey Kacey had come back to Earth, she hits us with one of the most bizarre songs in her whole discography. It’s weird; it’s wonderful. “Sailor Moon’s got nothing on me,†she says as she comes down from her 15-second trip. We’re already waiting for the anime concept album.