Kacey Musgraves on Her 'Fight' for the LGBTQ+ Community to 'Be Included' in Country Music

Kacey Musgraves has long been considered a gay ally — and now she's opening up about how it all started.

Speaking to friend Fancy Hagood in a new episode of Apple Music Country's Trailblazers Radio, Musgraves spills details on what inspired her to challenge the norm in country music — and the backlash she faced doing it.

"I think it just accidentally happened. I didn't go into it thinking, 'Ooh, I want to be a gay icon. I want to do this. I want to do that. I want to break all the rules,' " the "Justified" singer, 33, told the host. "I was just writing songs that were being inspired by my real life."

"When I moved to Nashville, I made a lot of friends in the gay community and my eyes were opened up in a lot of ways to how wonderful that community is — something I genuinely just naturally wasn't around in Texas, not by choice, that's just the way that it was," said Musgraves, who was raised in Golden, Texas.

And once the Star-Crossed songstress began having these new experiences and encounters, she felt inspired to write about them.

"Naturally, some songs came out that were inspired by that. I was like, 'They have to be included.' If we're talking about a genre that is supposedly built on real life and real stories about real people, why would this one thing be excluded?" she explained. "That's a narrative that just doesn't make sense to not be there. It doesn't matter what walk of life you're from, you experience love and emotions just like everyone else."

The country star, who is set to receive the Vanguard Award at the upcoming GLAAD Media Awards, further explained that she received some backlash for her initial singles "Merry Go 'Round" and "Follow Your Arrow."

"I did have to fight for it to be included, weirdly. It was definitely told to me that it would go down in flames, it would tank on the radio, it would this, that, and the other, and I really didn't care because I knew it would mean more than those things if people got to hear it," the "Wonder Woman" singer said. "I guess in some senses it did kind of tank on the radio, in fact, it did get banned from some stations."

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At the end of the day, Musgraves said "it did more for me even what a chart-topping hit could do." And the reaction she's received from fans since has made it all worthwhile.

"A lot of people have said, which it didn't occur to me this way really until they said it and it really made an impact on me, 'Your music makes me feel I'm finally invited to a party that I've always wanted to be invited to.' "

She added, "It sounds cliché at this point, but love is love. Again, one of the reasons I love country music is because it is about real life, it is about real stories and real people, and that shouldn't just include one set of people. One skin color, one political stance, one whatever, it should be everyone."

Listen to the full conversation — including Musgraves' journey to Nashville and what's next — on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET on Apple Music Country.