Kacey Musgraves’s ‘Too Good to Be True’ — A Lyrical Letdown

Grammy-winning, country singer-songwriter, Kacey Musgraves is known for blending traditional country styles with modern pop music. With her skilled use of wordplay and thought-provoking lyrics, she gained widespread recognition for her debut album, “Same Trailer Different Park,” which featured the hit single “Merry Go ‘Round,” garnering her critical acclaim and cultural traction. Musgraves has continued her success with five studio albums, of which her third, “Golden Hour,” hailed as a true fan favorite and won the Album of the Year Prize at the 2019 Grammar Awards.

Musgraves characterizes her sixth studio album,“Deeper Well,” as an attempt to evaluate what brings love and meaning into her life. She teases that this new album will show a fresh, perhaps more grounded and wise side of Musgraves as she navigates life in her 30’s. Though Musgraves is finding a new voice, no doubt, marked by emotional maturity and personal growth, she hasn't necessarily found new territory in the music arena; to put it bluntly, her new song, “Too Good to Be True,” lacks spice.

Kacey Musgraves’s new song begins with a scene of blissful intimacy: “Made some breakfast, made some love/this is what dreams are made of,” which is a scene so perfect that Musgraves wonders if her new love is “Too Good to Be True.” The third song of Musgraves’s new album was released on Feb. 29. The song meditates on notions of emotional vulnerability and explores our attempts to find security and safety in one of the least secure arenas of life: love. Though the acoustics are beautiful and Musgraves's voice is as tender and strong as ever, the theme of the song is overdone, the lyrics are somewhat cliché, and though it is catchy enough to replay a few times, it doesn't leave a memorable impression.

The song starts with potential and highlights some of her signature musical styles: gentle acoustics, a mellow, understated harmony, and a clear appreciation for unadorned traditional craft, marked by a lack of overly heavy editing. Usually from this blank and malleable canvas, Musgraves’s clever lyrics become the song’s backbone and pull it to new heights. In “Too Good to Be True,” though, the lyrics are a letdown, making the song modest and bland. “A tidal wave without a warning” and “please don't make me regret/ openin’ up that part of myself” may communicate the vulnerability and uneasiness that can accompany falling in love after being burnt one too many times, but the lyrics lack complexity and tension. Likening the overwhelming effect of love to a tidal wave seems obvious, and the directness of “openin’ up that part of myself” is rather one-dimensional. In the second verse, Musgraves croons, “In my mind, we’re in New York/ You had never been before/ But, baby, now it’s our town”. The romanticization of New York is a well-trodden path, and here, Musgraves’s New York seems like filler, bereft of the invention and imagination to enrich a listener’s experience.

Above all, the chorus falls short of her usual wit. She sings, “be good to me and I’ll be good to you, but please don’t be too good to be true” — the words are clean but uninspired compared to the indelible chorus from “Merry Go’Round:” “Cause Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay/ Brother’s hooked on Mary Jane and Daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down... We get bored so we get married.” Note the clever triple wordplay involving merry, marry, and married. “Too Good to Be True” appears to have nothing on the brilliant shakiness of youth in “Slow Burn,” the sassiness of “Follow Your Arrow” and “High Horse,” or the romantic magic of “Butterflies” and “Glittery.”

Nevertheless, while Musgraves falls short of the lyrical promise she showed in previous singles, “Too Good to Be True” does include chord changes that serve to push the song forward rather than grounding it in one place for too long. Overall, the song’s musical structure creates a sense of anxiety and unresolved tension, perhaps echoing the theme of the song as a whole.

As potentially one of the most talented singer-songwriters of this generation, Musgraves, unfortunately, misses the mark in “Too Good to Be True,” a song that is not bad, but too forgettable. Ultimately, the song does not shine and fails to harness what Musgraves is truly capable of as a formidable artist.