Country star Kacey Musgraves has revealed that her long-rumored rift with fellow singer Miranda Lambert began over a hit song that Musgraves originally planned to release herself.
In a recent interview with NPR, Musgraves explained that she co-wrote the 2011 track Mama's Broken Heart and intended for it to be the first single from her early work as an artist.
At the time, she had spent years writing songs for other performers and finally felt she had material that truly reflected her own voice.
"It was gonna be my first single and I loved the song so much," Musgraves said.
She explained that after years of being a staff songwriter, she had started saving songs that felt personal instead of pitching them to other artists, People reported.
However, things took an unexpected turn when the track was pitched to Lambert without Musgraves knowing.
Lambert ultimately recorded the song for her 2011 album Four the Record. Because Lambert was already a bigger star in country music at the time, the situation became complicated.
Musgraves described the moment as a difficult one. "It was a tricky situation. She ended up loving the song and she really wanted it," she said, adding that there were also co-writers involved whose opinions had to be considered.
Kacey Musgraves Reveals How She and Miranda Lambert Overcame “Old Laundry” https://t.co/5hovOQ7g74
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Kacey Musgraves Reaches Out to Miranda Lambert
The tension between the two artists also had deeper roots. Both women grew up in nearby small towns in Texas before later building their careers in Nashville.
According to PageSix, Musgraves noted that being "two singers from two nearby, small Texas towns" naturally brought some competition as their careers developed along different paths.
Despite the setback, Musgraves now looks back on the situation with a different perspective.
Losing the chance to release the song pushed her to write Merry Go Round, which became a defining track for her debut album and helped her win the Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2014.
Years later, the former rivals found a surprising way to reconnect. Musgraves reached out to Lambert about collaborating on a new song titled Horses and Divorces for her upcoming album Middle of Nowhere.
Musgraves said the idea came after she saw Lambert riding a horse on Instagram.
Both singers share a love of horses and have also experienced public divorces — Lambert from Blake Shelton in 2015 and Musgraves from Ruston Kelly in 2020.
"We'd lost touch for years and wouldn't consider each other friends," Musgraves said.
But she still reached out with a simple idea for a humorous duet and suggested writing it with songwriter Shane McAnally.
Originally published on Enstarz
