Kacey Musgraves Performed Naked on ‘SNL’ and Made History

Kacey Musgraves has reinvented herself throughout her career. She burst onto the scene as a country music star and has become a pop culture icon in just a few short years. When she performed on Saturday Night Live in 2021, she proved just why she’s become an icon.

Kacey Musgraves’ career

Musgraves rose to stardom working with country music acts like Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert. Her debut album Same Trailer Different Park introduced her as a country music star with something else to offer. Her 2015 album Pageant Material showed that she had a modern-day take on classic country sounds.

In the years since then, Musgraves has branched into country pop using influences from other genres. Her Golden Hour album was an instrumental part of this rebrand, and her 2021 album Star-Crossed is another out-of-this-world offering.

To promote Star-Crossed, Musgraves appeared on Saturday Night Live to perform “justified,” the album’s lead single. But did something entirely different with her performance.

Kacey Musgraves performed ‘Justified’ naked on SNL’

Musgraves fans who were in the audience at her Saturday Night Live performance confirmed what appeared to be true on camera: that she was performing naked. According to Variety, one fan on Reddit said the SNL crew took extra care to keep her covered up the entire time, up until she starts performing while playing her guitar covering her whole body.

“I was in the dress rehearsal audience,” the fan said. “After her performance people gathered around her with large towels to wrap her so could stand and walk off stage.”

Another fan was at the live taping and was “Pretty sure she was actually naked.” “Right before her first song, they set up a moveable wall, blocking the audience from seeing her,” they recounted. “After the song, they moved it back to cover her again and covered her with some sort of towel/robe. She was super chill, kinda walked off stage in the towel and waved.”

Kacey Musgraves was the first artist to perform naked on ‘SNL’

Musgraves’ publicist told Variety that she was indeed naked for her performance of “justified.” And in doing so, she broke new ground for SNL: she was the first performer in history to strip down to nothing on the SNL stage.

“She was nude,” her publicist confirmed. “Precautions were taken, and this was the first time it’s happened on the show.” The representative also confirmed that she was hidden from the audience by a sheet as the performance was set up.

Given “justified”‘s stripped-down vocals and pensive lyrics, stripping down is about as vulnerable as a performer like Musgraves can get. Later, she was dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans for her second number, her single “camera roll” from Star-Crossed.