| Golden Hour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30) | |||
| Recorded | January–April 2017 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:44 | |||
| Label | MCA Nashville | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Kacey Musgraves chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Golden Hour | ||||
| ||||
Golden Hour is the fourth studio album by Americancountry music singer and songwriterKacey Musgraves, released on March 30, 2018, throughMCA Nashville.[3] Musgraves co-wrote all 13 tracks and co-produced the album withDaniel Tashian andIan Fitchuk. Acountry pop record,Golden Hour also contains elements ofdisco,electropop,electronica, andyacht rock.[4][5][6]
Golden Hour debuted at number four on the USBillboard 200.[7] Receiving widespread critical acclaim, the album and its songs won in all four of their nominated categories at the61st Grammy Awards, includingAlbum of the Year andBest Country Album. The album's first two singles also won awards: "Butterflies" forBest Country Solo Performance and "Space Cowboy" forBest Country Song.[8]Golden Hour also wonAlbum of the Year at the52nd Annual Country Music Association Awards.[9] In 2020,Golden Hour was ranked at 270 onRolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[10]
Musgraves wrote and recorded most of the songs from the album throughout 2017. When asked about the writing process, she said, "I have a lot more love songs this time around, and I've never been one to write a love song and really feel it." She continued: "That probably sounds like the most depressing thing ever. [But] I'm coming off getting married and being in this golden hour of my personal life, where all these things are finally coming to fruition. I found myself inspired to write about this person and all these things he brought out in me that weren't there before." Pieces of the album were recorded in a studio above a horse stable owned by musicianSheryl Crow.[11]
In a 2019 interview withRolling Stone, Musgraves discussed being under the influence ofLSD when composing the songs "Mother" and "Slow Burn" and how it helped her creative process; "I'm not going to tell anybody to run out and do anything that wouldn't be suitable for their mind or their lifestyle, but it did have positive effects for me."[12]
On March 10, 2018, Musgraves announced the Oh, What a World: Tour in support of the album while performing at theCountry to Country music festival in London. The first twelve dates of the tour were announced on March 12, through Musgraves stating on social media that tour dates in other countries would eventually be added. The tour began on October 13 inOslo, Norway.[13][14] Musgraves announced a second leg of the tour, titled the "Oh, What a World: Tour II", in February 2019.[15]
Musgraves' sister Kelly Christine Sutton took the cover photo forGolden Hour over a two-day photo shoot in and around their hometown ofGolden, Texas. Sutton, who also is credited with designing the album's packaging, has previously worked with Musgraves for all of her albums' artwork. When considering the cover photo, Sutton recalls Kacey "wanted to use thispaper fan, and we are usually on the same page with ideas, but I couldn't picture it. We went out into this wide open field. We needed one with no trees, so there was sky only. Almost immediately after we reviewed the photos, we just knew we had it."[16]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.1/10[17] |
| Metacritic | 89/100[18] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Chicago Tribune | |
| Consequence of Sound | A−[20] |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| Pitchfork | 8.7/10[23] |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Times | |
| Uncut | 7/10[26] |
| Vice (Expert Witness) | B+[27] |
Golden Hour received rave reviews frommusic critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has anaverage score of 89, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[18]Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic rated the album four and a half out of five stars and called it "warm and enveloping, pitched halfway between heartbreak and healing—but (it) lingers in the mind because the songs are so sharp, buttressed by long, loping melodies and Musgraves' affectless soul baring."[5] Writing forThe Independent and rating the album a perfect 5 out of 5, Roisin O'Connor states the album is "a reminder that sometimes – often, if you're looking in the right places – life is beautiful."[22] Additionally, it was aSpin "Essential" and of the genre-bending songs on the album, reviewer Katherine St. Asaph calls it "not classicist, but perhaps it might be classic."[28] The album was rated number one by theBBC poll of polls, a compilation of best-of-the-year lists across 35 music reviewers, on a list of the best albums of 2018.[29] The album also placed number one inThe Village Voice'sPazz & Jop critics' poll for 2018.[30]
Golden Hour debuted at number four on the USBillboard 200 and at number one on theTop Country Albums chart with 49,000album-equivalent units, with 39,000 of that figure being pure album sales in its first week.[7] It marks Musgraves’ third number one on the US Top Country Albums chart. It also debuted at number one on theAmericana/Folk Albums chart.[31] In the chart week following the61st Grammy Awards, whereGolden Hour wonAlbum of the Year, the album returned to the top ten, climbing to number nine on the chart, selling 35,000 copies.[32] In February 2019, the album has reached 310,000 in album-equivalent units sold.[33] On June 28, 2019, the album was certifiedgold by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units.[34] As of February 2020, the album has sold 735,000 units in the United States and was certified Platinum on May 7, 2021.[35]
In theUnited Kingdom,Golden Hour debuted at number six on the officialUK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK Country Albums chart. It marks Musgraves' first top ten album in the UK.[36]
Credits adapted from liner notes.[37]
All tracks are produced byDaniel Tashian,Ian Fitchuk, andKacey Musgraves.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Slow Burn" | 4:06 | |
| 2. | "Lonely Weekend" |
| 3:46 |
| 3. | "Butterflies" |
| 3:39 |
| 4. | "Oh, What a World" |
| 4:01 |
| 5. | "Mother" |
| 1:18 |
| 6. | "Love Is a Wild Thing" |
| 4:16 |
| 7. | "Space Cowboy" |
| 3:36 |
| 8. | "Happy & Sad" |
| 4:03 |
| 9. | "Velvet Elvis" |
| 2:34 |
| 10. | "Wonder Woman" | 4:00 | |
| 11. | "High Horse" |
| 3:33 |
| 12. | "Golden Hour" |
| 3:18 |
| 13. | "Rainbow" |
| 3:34 |
| Total length: | 45:44 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Merry Go 'Round" |
| 3:28 |
| 15. | "Follow Your Arrow" |
| 3:21 |
| 16. | "High Horse" (Violents Remix) |
| 3:43 |
| Total length: | 56:11 | ||
Credits adapted from liner notes.[37]
Instrumentation
| Technical
Artwork
|
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
At the61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019,Golden Hour wonAlbum of the Year andBest Country Album. It became the sixth country album to win Album of the Year and the first country album since 2010 to win Album of the Year. Its songs, "Space Cowboy" and "Butterflies", wonBest Country Song andBest Country Solo Performance, respectively.[64]
| Association | Year | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMA Awards[65] | 2018 | Album of the Year | Won |
| Apple Music[66] | 2018 | Album of the Year | Won |
| Grammy Awards[64] | 2019 | Album of the Year | Won |
| Best Country Album | Won | ||
| ACM Awards[67] | 2019 | Album of the Year | Won |
| CMT Music Awards[68] | 2019 | Video of the Year (for "Rainbow") | Nominated |
| Female Video of the Year (for "Space Cowboy") | Nominated | ||
| CMA Awards[69] | 2019 | Song of the Year (for "Rainbow") | Nominated |
| Music Video of the Year (for "Rainbow") | Won | ||
| ACM Awards[70] | 2019 | Single of the Year (for "Rainbow") | Nominated |
| Publication | Rank | List |
|---|---|---|
| AllMusic | N/A | The Best Albums of 2018[71] |
| American Songwriter | 1 | Top 25 Albums of 2018[72] |
| Associated Press | 2 | Top 10 Albums of 2018[73] |
| Apple | 1 | The Best Album of 2018[74] |
| Billboard | 3 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018: Critics' Picks[75] |
| Complex | 36 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[76] |
| Consequence of Sound | 9 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[77] |
| Entertainment Weekly | 1 | The 20 Best Albums of 2018[78] |
| The Independent | 4 | The 40 Best Albums of 2018[79] |
| Noisey | 2 | The 100 Best Albums of 2018[80] |
| NPR Music | 3 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[81] |
| Paste | 44 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[82] |
| People | 1 | Top 10 Albums of 2018[83] |
| Pitchfork | 2 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[84] |
| PopMatters | 2 | The 70 Best Albums of 2018[85] |
| Rolling Stone | 2 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[86] |
| Sputnikmusic | 1 | Top 50 Albums of 2018[87] |
| Stereogum | 1 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[88] |
| Taste of Country | 1 | The 10 Best Country Albums of 2018[89] |
| Idolator | 3 | The 25 Best Albums Of 2018[90] |
| Time | 8 | The 10 Best Albums of 2018[91] |
| Uncut | 73 | The 75 Best Albums of 2018[92] |
| Uproxx | 2 | The 50 Best Albums of 2018[93] |
| 1 | Uproxx Music Critics Poll: Albums[94] | |
| The Village Voice | 1 | Pazz & Jop: The Top 100 Albums of 2018[30] |
| Vulture | 4 | The Best Albums of 2018[95] |
| Publication | Rank | List |
|---|---|---|
| The A.V. Club | 27 | The 50 Best Albums of the 2010s[96] |
| Billboard | 6 | The 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s[97] |
| Billboard | 3 | The 25 Best Country Albums of the 2010s[98] |
| Cleveland.com | 12 | 100 Greatest Albums of the 2010s[99] |
| Consequence of Sound | 85 | The 100 Top Albums of the 2010s[100] |
| Paste | 9 | The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s[101] |
| Pitchfork | 23 | The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s[102] |
| Rolling Stone | 11 | The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s[103] |
| 270 | The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time[10] | |
| Apple Music | 85 | 100 Best Albums[104] |
| Uproxx | 11 | The Best Albums of the 2010s[105] |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[106] | Platinum | 80,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[107] | Gold | 7,500‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[108] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[34] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | March 30, 2018 | MCA Nashville | [109] | |
| Japan | July 4, 2018 | CD | Universal Music Japan | [38] |
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)