It's undeniable that 2019 was an incredible year for Kacey Musgraves. From her showstopping appearances at the Oscars and Met Gala to her headlining Oh, What a World Tour to winning four more Grammys (taking her current total to six), Musgraves literally did not stop.

But that all changed at the start of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic put the world on pause. "I think if you struggle with a bit of anxiety—I definitely carry some of that—a way to escape that is to be constantly busy and to work and be on the move all the time," the musician tells BAZAAR.com. "When all of that goes down, you realize, 'Woah, I've got to figure this out.'"

Just like the rest of us, Musgraves has been navigating the pandemic by social distancing, spending a whole lot more time at home, and getting lost in her work. Fans will be excited to hear that there's a follow-up to Golden Hour on the way (and in the not-too-distant future) and that the artist is taking her music beyond the studio. Serendipitously, a foray into self-care materialized at just the right time for Musgraves, rekindling her fire with creativity and posing the question, what do songs smell like?

When Musgraves released her first collaboration with Boy Smells, an "agnostic candle" named after her inimitable song "Slow Burn," in February, it sold out within 12 hours and amassed a 15,000-person wait list. So a subsequent collab was inevitable. We're happy to report that today the Slow Burn candle is back, just in time for the holidays and in a new three-wick style, which Boy Smells cofounder Matthew Herman says "will literally scent your entire home."

Ahead of an unprecedented festive season, the "Space Cowboy" singer speaks to BAZAAR.com about her collaboration with Boy Smells, writing new music, and finding inspiration in a tumultuous year.

Slow Burn is described as a "gender agnostic" candle. Was gender inclusivity central to your collaboration with Boy Smells?

One of my favorite things in the world is being an ally to the community, supporting that through either my music or my thoughts or the collaborations that I do. I love that Boy Smells has some Texas roots like I do, but they're also a queer brand, and are all about presenting scents in a nonbinary way, packaging included. That was definitely a plus to working with them, for sure.

I just think that there's all kinds of humans out there, and it's been beautiful to see a world of possibilities and shapes and colors and opportunities open for everyone.

The promotion for Slow Burn has a real smoldering holiday vibe. What was the inspiration for that?

I'm a very visual person, so whenever I'm writing a song, I'm immediately seeing the video. I'm seeing where I was when I came up with the idea and how it feels and how it smells. This was a really unique chance for me and something really fun. We hear songs and they make us feel things emotionally, but what if you could smell a song? What would a song smell like?

Leading up to Halloween, we were all inspired by the idea of this witch, like a glamorous witch of sorts, playing with all of these ingredients and textures and color and scents. So that was the direction we went with this. Something that will really grab people and visually could convey the mood of this candle when you're burning it, and how it smells. The whole process was really fun, almost bringing "Slow Burn" to life as a 3D scent.

In the campaign, it was fun to play with a bit of ASMR, which I enjoy myself. Attention to detail and aesthetic is just as important to Boy Smells as it is to me. We work really well together, collaborating on every single step.

Are there any self-care rituals that have helped you during the pandemic?

One unconventional self-care ritual is just learning how to give myself a break and learning how to be easier on myself. Whether that's maybe I didn't work out today like I had intended, maybe I wasn't as productive today. But I think part of self-care is learning your perimeters and learning that you're not a machine.

I would say that I can be guilty of being a "human doing" and not a "human being" sometimes. This year has taught me a lot about slowing down and knowing it's okay if I wasn't as productive as I could have been. Like, "It's going to be fine, the world will not stop," and that's something that I'm working on. That's a big part of self-care for me.

Part of self-care is learning your perimeters and learning that you're not a machine.

I'm also keeping up with therapy. Not isolating, even though we are in a pandemic. Finding safe ways to still keep in touch with friends and get out of the house. Burning a candle or taking a bubble bath, or whatever it is.

Also keeping fresh flowers around. That's been something that I would say is a little bit of a luxury, but our homes are our little safe bubbles away from the craziness that's going on outside of our doors. Whatever it is that makes you happy, just do it. I think everyone's been sitting around in their house just going, "Oh, my God, I hate this wall color, I hate these curtains, I need to change this." So now we're doing it.

In the beginning, whenever my schedule got completely clear for the year, I was like, "Oh, my God, this is so weird, how inconvenient." But it's turned out to be kind of a blessing in disguise for me, because I think that I'll be able to go out and be busy again and have a better foundation under my feet in a lot of ways.

Do you have any holiday traditions, and are you making any new ones this year?

I am an aunt for the first time. My sister had a baby recently. I've never met him … yet. But I'm sure that that will create some new, really fun traditions, having a kid in the family now. So I'm looking forward to meeting my nephew for the first time and seeing my family. I have a new place that I moved into a few months ago up in Nashville, so if all goes well, I'll be hopefully hosting people there. It'll be my first Christmas in this house, so having my family around me in a year when I haven't gotten to see them that much, it'll be really nice.

You've probably been asked this a lot, but are you working on any new music?

Well, I'm always working on new music. I'm always filtering little bits of life and ideas out of it. I've been writing since Golden Hour, here and there, collecting songs. That's usually how I work best. I just live life and absorb. And this year's definitely given me a dose of real life, so I have a lot to write about. I have a lot of new songs that I'm excited about, and I feel like only I really know when I have the right ones ready. But it's been nice to not have the normal pressure of the machine and the touring cycle going. All of that's been taken off, and I can just live life and write when I can.

This year's definitely given me a dose of real life, so I have a lot to write about.

I'm really looking forward to putting out new music, though, because I'm excited to tell the stories that happened after Golden Hour. A lot of things happened outside of my home and in the world, and a lot of things also happened personally, too, that I have to write about. It's a whole different world. I'm excited to dig in and tell those stories when the time's right.

So we just need to be patient then?

Believe me, I want new songs out as much as everybody else does, but I also want to make sure they're done right. I never want to just throw something out there because I'm feeling the pressure. My manager assured me, "You've got the time. Take the time. Make sure the songs are where they need to be, and the rest will fall into place."

Do you miss touring and live music?

Whenever we do get to come back to live music, I think it's going to mean that much more. It's going to be really special. I think even I have taken it for granted in the past. Now, we've all seen how fragile the world is and how these niceties that we really need sometimes can be taken away so quickly. I think that the artists and the touring musicians will be so ecstatic to get back to playing for people, and I know that it's going to feel really good to have an audience that really wants to be there.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is celebrating your career with an exhibition about your life. Do you have a favorite milestone that's included?

There's a bunch of milestones spanning my entire life in there, it's a huge display. It's chronological and starts at the beginning, and goes to where I am now. It's a huge honor to be part of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Even if you don't know much about country music, it's an incredible and very interesting place to visit. This genre has so much history. Even to be a small part of that is a huge deal to me, because I grew up singing country music. There's everything in there from detention slips from my school to getting in trouble for disrupting the classroom and talking, and being late—no surprise there! There's all the Grammys and all the outfits and the sparkles, and it's full of memories. And, there are some awkward haircuts.

The exhibit was extended—it was supposed to end last summer—with everything going on. I really encourage people to get down and see it. And my mom worked really hard with me. She's been hoarding all these mementos my whole life, and I've been making fun of her forever, like, "What are you going to do with all this crap?" Well, she found something to do with it! It's really cool.

So her hoarding paid off?

In this one instance, yes, it did.

It's quite a politically divisive time right now. Do you have any advice for people who are struggling or feeling like they're not being listened to or represented?

I'm not sure that I'm the pinnacle of advice giving, but it is really frustrating and really hurtful to feel like your voice isn't heard. But I feel like it gives me hope that there is a younger generation under me that is very active and their voices are loud. They know what's right, they know what's wrong. They have a heart. They fight for justice. And they fight for people who are different.

I feel like we're heading in a good direction as far as the world progressing, and society progressing. I don't think that we're going backwards when it comes to things being in the hands of people that are younger than me. I'm really proud of how they stand up for things that they believe in. It's cool to see that applying to gender and politics and human rights. It's opening the doors for there to be a much more accepting environment.

Musgraves is wearing a Mach & Mach crystal gown. Photography: Carl Ostberg. The Boy Smells x Kacey Musgraves Slow Burn: Holiday Edition collection is out now.

Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.