Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell
One of country’s biggest stars is eager for a long-awaited good time, and wants everyone to know about it.
Kacey Musgraves has officially entered her newest album cycle – with the announcement of her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere, coming out on May 1st, and the release of its lead single, “Dry Spell”, on March 11th via Lost Highway.
Musically, “Dry Spell” is a suave, fairly laid-back country pop track, which is produced fantastically. The instrumental is relatively subtle, but is very well put together; it’s simple, twangy and smooth, with the deep, resonant guitars in particular giving it a really enjoyable texture. The melodies are catchy and fun, and simple enough to be already singing along by the second chorus.
As for the writing, the song’s opening lines, “It’s been a real long three-hundred and thirty-five days / And the last time, it wasn’t good anyway”, make the content of the song perfectly clear right from the start – the “dry spell” the title is referring to is, in fact, a lack of sex. Musgraves doesn’t exactly pull any punches when it comes to describing this, either – the writing is full of sexual puns and double entendres of varying quality from beginning to end. The comparison to Sabrina Carpenter when it comes to this slightly clunky, tongue-in-cheek outwardly raunchy lyricism in the modern-day mainstream music landscape might be an obvious one, but it feels somewhat inevitable, especially with Carpenter’s own ventures in a country-adjacent direction on some of the tracks on her most recent album, Man’s Best Friend.
However, while Sabrina’s more sexual writing has its own flaws, it works a bit better than Kacey Musgraves’ on “Dry Spell”. Lines like “I’m so lonely, lonely with a capital “H” / If you know what I mean, I’ve been sitting on the washing machine”, “Ain’t nobody’s tool up in my shed” or “Nobody but the chickens are getting laid” feel a little more awkward without the bright, colorful ambience and bouncy, fun, danceable instrumentals behind them that similar lines have in Carpenter’s music. They’re still clearly witty, and there are still entertainment to be had with them, but it feels as though the execution could’ve felt a little more natural in some places. Even though there are a few potential eye-rolling moments, though, as a whole, there’s still more good than bad when it comes to the writing.
Overall, “Dry Spell” is a bold, but playful start to Kacey Musgraves’ new era. It’s a light, catchy song that, while sometimes a little hamfisted lyrically, still has plenty of enjoyable moments and is very well-produced. It’s a solid track, and a good way to set the tone for the upcoming record.
7.0/10
