The night of the 2019 Grammys, Musgraves had already won more trophies than her two hands could carry before the Album of the Year was announced. But this was the Big One, the one that makes someone a household name. As her name was called, the cameras zoomed in on her face. In videos of that moment we see her life change. Her look of disbelief and joy is so purely honest and endearing that it’s since gone viral, launching memes all across the Internet.

As a millennial, Musgraves loves the memes, of course. She’d figured she had a shot—she was in the running, after all—but it was still surreal. “It was a moment of definite disbelief, but also openheartedness,” she says. “I was flashing back through writing all the songs, meeting my husband, recording everything, and all the positivity that’s come my way through all of this. It was this overwhelming sense of gratitude. I love these songs so much. I have a man that loves me so much and inspired a lot of it. I have a team that works hard.” As she stepped up to the stage to accept the trophy, she had one thing in mind: “I was trying to think, OK, don’t forget anybody.”

What she couldn’t think about—imagine, even—is how hot this new spotlight would be. Now not just her fans but the rest of the world wants to know Kacey. And what’s next. She added dates to her tour, and there’s already pressure about her next album. No matter what Musgraves produces, there will be the inevitable comparisons to this success. “It can be freaky, because Golden Hour really resonated with a lot of people and reached far beyond what I ever thought it could do,” she says. “So there can be a worry inside your mind a little bit, as a creative person, thinking about the fact that there’s no way to bank on the muse coming and visiting you again.”

There are little things she can do to coax that muse, Musgraves says. See live music. (“Anytime I go out and see live music, I leave inspired.”) Ride her horse. (“The dirt and the sunshine and the fresh air can stimulate your brain.”) Read books. (Her husband has been reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden aloud to her so, “as I’m absorbing the story, I can paint the pictures in my mind.”) But there’s never a guarantee the muse will return. “It’s not certain. I’m not owed anything by it. It just comes when it comes,” she says. “It’s exciting but also a little daunting.”

And giving herself space, in her bus or at her home in Nashville, also helps. She knows she needs time to find that muse again, and that means saying no to some things. “When you’re younger and have opportunities knocking at your door, you think, I have to say yes; what if they don’t knock again?” she says. “But that’s just not how it really works. Opportunities will knock as long as you feel like you have enough of yourself to keep giving. That’s been a good part of hitting 30 and getting older—the power of saying no is a beautiful thing, and it can actually bring a lot more yeses into your life.”

Her friends, like Fitchuk, are all for the self-imposed break. “I was telling her the other day that I hope she’s allowing herself to enjoy this and not work herself into oblivion,” he says. “Whatever happens for her this next year, I hope she can find balance and pleasure in the things she is doing. If that means we make another record, that’s amazing. If that means she needs some time to live her life and enjoy a new marriage and the success, she should do that. She’ll know what to do. I’m not too worried. She’s got her head on a lot straighter than others.”

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