Camera Roll

Album: Star-Crossed (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Kacey Musgraves recorded this song for Star-Crossed, an album chronicling the singer's personal journey of heartache and healing following her 2020 divorce from Ruston Kelly. The project is reminiscent of a Greek tragedy with its three-part structure; the tracks should be listened to in order to understand the storyline.

    This song is the ninth out of the 15 tracks. It was inspired by Musgraves' distress after looking at some old photos of her and Ruston Kelly on her phone.
  • Don't go through your camera roll
    So much you don't know
    That you forgotten
    What a trip, the way you can flip
    Through all the good parts of it
    I shouldn't have done it


    Musgraves told Apple Music her ill-advised late-night scrolling came at a time when she felt she was moving on from their divorce. "I was on an upswing of confidence," she said. "I'm feeling good about these life changes, where I'm at."

    Then, one night, sat in her bedroom, bored and alone, she started flicking through photos of happier times with Kelly that she hadn't deleted. "Now I'm back in 2018, now I'm in 2017," Musgraves commented. "And what's crazy is that we never take pictures of the bad times. There's no documentation of the fight that you had where, I don't know, you just pushed it a little too far."
  • Musgraves discussed the song during an appearance on scientist Dr. Maya Shankar's podcast, A Slight Change Of Plans. "After the divorce and everything, you have all these photos of your life, your old life, in your phone and you don't know what to do with them," she said to the host. "You're like, 'Do I delete this?'"

    Musgraves continued: "This person didn't die.' And these are still my memories, but I don't want to see him every day. Well, you get to scrolling on your phone, like one late night, and you just wander down this dark alley with all these wonderful memories at one point and then you're just f---ing stabbed in the heart!"
  • Musgraves wrote the song with her Golden Hour co-producers, Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Band Names

Band NamesFact or Fiction

Was "Pearl" Eddie Vedder's grandmother, and did she really make a hallucinogenic jam? Did Journey have a contest to name the group? And what does KISS stand for anyway?

Producer Ron Nevison

Producer Ron NevisonSong Writing

Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.

Name the Character in the Song

Name the Character in the SongMusic Quiz

With a few clues (Works at a diner, dreams of running away), can you name the character in the song?

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman Jack

Have Mercy! It's Wolfman JackSong Writing

The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.

Gary Brooker of Procol Harum

Gary Brooker of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces