Though Katy Perry is a superstar in the pop music world, she’s also not afraid to step outside the lines and experiment musically. This rang true when she connected with trailblazing country star Kacey Musgraves. The two formed a friendship that led to collaboration. Their friendship extends back to 2014 when Perry invited Musgraves to come out as an opening act on her Prism Tour, marking the country singer’s first pop tour. But Perry could’ve almost had her voice on a country song when Musgraves pitched her “Follow Your Arrow.”
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“The idea came when a friend was moving to Paris to study and she needed a boost of courage,” Musgraves tells People about the song’s origins. “I found this arrow necklace and wrote a little poem— something like, ‘Have lots of fun, smoke lots of joints, and follow your arrow wherever it points.’” Intrigued by the idea of writing a song called “Follow Your Arrow,” Musgraves was tapped to write for Perry’s next album and presented Perry with the skeleton of a chorus and melody.
“I brought it when I was writing for Katy Perry for her record, and she loved it but said, ‘Honestly it sounds like something you would sing,'” Musgraves recalls of Perry’s reaction. “‘You should keep it.’” Taking Perry’s words to heart, Musgraves went into the writing room with Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, and “Follow Your Arrow” was born. It became an anthem with its LGBTQIA-friendly lyrics and references to weed, driving home the message at the end of the chorus singing, roll up a joint, or don’t / Just follow your arrow wherever it points.
“Follow Your Arrow” was released as the third single off Musgraves’ Grammy-winning debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, and hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It’s since become one of her signature hits.
“At our cores, we both think a lot about narrative and characters and the subjects,” Perry commented to Billboard about Musgraves. “Maybe our worlds aren’t exactly the same, but anybody that appreciates great songwriting is going to be really into her…She’s not just a country artist, she’s a crossover. She puts on a pop-country show, and she brings it.”
Though Perry passed on “Follow Your Arrow,” the pair did perform it together during their 2014 episode of CMT Crossroads, alongside Perry’s hit “Firework,” Musgraves’ debut single “Merry Go Round” and a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again.” The two reunited as part of the tribute performance to Parton at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
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