Kacey Musgraves Joins Judah & the Lion for Beautiful Collaboration, ‘Pictures’ [LISTEN]

Grammy Awards winner Kacey Musgraves joins folk-punk band Judah & the Lion for their brand-new song, "Pictures," which dropped Wednesday (Feb. 20). Readers can press play above to watch the lyric video of the bittersweet, acoustic tribute to a lost love.

"Pictures" was written by JatL frontman Judah Akers in the wake of a family crisis that culminated in the messy divorce of his parents. It was all happening just as his band was discovering huge commercial success with their hit "Take It All Back."

“I had a really deep moment with my mom when she called me and broke down bawling about how hard it was to move from our family house,”Akers explains in a press release. “I wrote the song from her perspective and it came in a flood, in five minutes, right after the call. I needed to write it because I was heartsick."

"Too scared to move these things from this home we made / So many good memories and some fatal mistakes / And I know that you love me still / But we're not the same / And if I'm being honest, I don't really want you this way," Akers opens with the first verse, setting the stage for an inevitable breakdown.

Musgraves joins for the second verse: "But I guess I'm still processing / My whole world's been turned around / Every truth I've known since high school was a lie from your mouth / And we made our promises / Yeah, we said our vows / None of that really seems to matter to you now," the song continues. 

Akers joins Musgraves for intricate harmonies set against JatL's recognizable string background: "'Cause you were mine always, and now you're gone / Look what we've become / Just another sad song / Of a love gone wrong / I hate that I'm taking our pictures off the wall," they sing.

"Pictures" is available for download now, ahead of Judah & the Lion's third studio album, Pep Talks. That project is set to drop May 3 via Cletus the Van/Caroline records.

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