After Kacey Musgraves took home the Grammy grand prize when she won the all-genre album of the year award on Feb. 10, her popularity skyrocketed.
Literally. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the day after the awards, sales of her Golden Hour album were up 597 percent and sales of her single “Rainbow” were up 9,430 percent.
But Maddie & Tae were not surprised at all.
Both Marlow and Musgraves are proud Texans. Marlow is from Sugar Land, about four hours south of Musgraves’ hometown of Golden. And before the duo’s Chicago show on Tuesday night (Feb. 26), Marlow told me what the win meant to her, as the die-hard fan and fellow country singer she is.
“I bought her first record and wore that thing out in high school,” Marlow said. “And I have bought them all ever since. We are both such Kacey freaks, and Tae (Dye) and I have met her a couple times and she was like, “Hello.” She was quiet. And we were like, ‘But I want you to be my best friend!’ A girl can dream.”
What Marlow was happiest about is that the album of the year Grammy validated that art can win.
“That whole category had other artists who probably had more streams and probably had more exposure. But this time, it was art that won. It wasn’t about politics or streams or No. 1 songs. It was truly about the art.
“And it inspired me to think, ‘You know what? Art is not dead.’ You can make great art and people will appreciate it. So don’t sell yourself short. Don’t water yourself down. Because it does get noticed. It is appreciated. It IS the album of the year.”
Musgraves beat out Drake, Brandi Carlile, Post Malone, Cardi B, H.E.R., Janelle Monáe and the Black Panther soundtrack. Her win was the first time a country artist has taken home the coveted album of the year title since 2010, when Taylor Swift’s Fearless won.
Dye agreed with Marlow, and added that watching Musgraves win was almost as good as the win itself. “I loved her reaction. She was like, ’What? What? What? What?’ She is just so genuine.”