Butterflies (Kacey Musgraves song)
2018 single by Kacey Musgraves From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Butterflies" is a song by American country singer–songwriter Kacey Musgraves from her fourth studio album, Golden Hour (2018). It was released on February 23, 2018 alongside "Space Cowboy" as the second[1][2] single from the album through MCA Nashville Records.[3] Musgraves wrote the song with Luke Laird and Natalie Hemby, and produced it alongside Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.[4] According to Musgraves, "Butterflies" was co-written with Shane McAnally;[1] however, he was not credited as one its songwriters in the album's liner notes.[4]
| "Butterflies" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Spotify Exclusive Golden Hour 7 (Vinyl, 7", Single, Limited Edition, White) - Side 2 | ||||
| Single by Kacey Musgraves | ||||
| from the album Golden Hour | ||||
| A-side | "Space Cowboy" (double A-side) | |||
| Written | 2016 | |||
| Released | February 23, 2018 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:39 | |||
| Label | MCA Nashville | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Kacey Musgraves singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Butterflies" on YouTube | ||||
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A "genre-defying"[5] song described as country pop,[3][6] pop,[7] and disco[8] with a "reggae-fied twang",[9] "Butterflies" departs from the lyrical cynicism expressed in Musgraves' previous songs.[10] With lyrics "[representing] those feelings that you have when you're first meeting somebody and you fall in love".[11]
The song was written in early 2016 shortly after Musgraves had met singer–songwriter Ruston Kelly.[1] The pair were married in 2017 before filing for divorce three years later.[12]
Rolling Stone compared the "earnest" lyrics of "Butterflies" to Taylor Swift's work from Fearless (2008).[10] NPR compared its sound to Little Big Town, with its production "stepping easily beyond any genre category".[9]
Musgraves first performed "Butterflies" on January 21, 2017 on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion.[10] In 2018, Musgraves performed the song on Today in March,[13] Austin City Limits in November,[14] and at the 13th Billboard Women in Music event in December.[15] In April 2018, Musgraves recorded an acoustic performance of the song in London to serve as one of the original videos for the Hot Country playlist on Spotify.[16]
The music video for "Butterflies", like the clip for "Space Cowboy", was directed by Courtney Phillips and shot in Mexico City.[17] It was released on May 4, 2018 and shows Musgraves walking around a city at night.[8][18]
"Butterflies" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance at the 61st annual awards ceremony in 2019.[5]
On Billboard's weekly charts, the song peaked at number 32 on the Hot Country Songs chart and number 56 on the Country Airplay chart, spending two weeks on the latter.[19][20]
Rock band Hawthorne Heights covered "Butterflies" for their two-track project Dads of Sad (2019); Musgraves reacted positively to the emo cover.[21] The song was performed by contestant Cali Wilson on the 17th season of the American music competition series The Voice.[22]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Golden Hour.[4]
- Luke Laird – songwriting
- Natalie Hemby – songwriting
- Kacey Musgraves – songwriting, production, acoustic guitar
- Ian Fitchuk – production, drums, Juno 60, piano
- Daniel Tashian – production, bass guitar, baritone guitar
- Todd Lombardo – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo
- Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- John Hanes – engineering for mixing
- Craig Alvin – recording
- Greg Calbi – mastering
- Steve Fallone – mastering
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[19] | 32 |
| US Country Airplay (Billboard)[20] | 56 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[23] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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