© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Kacey Musgraves Releases 'Oh, What A World 2.0' As Earth Day Fundraiser

Kacey Musgraves released "Oh, What A World 2.0" Wednesday morning, an Earth Day fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund.
Suzanne Cordeiro
/
AFP via Getty Images
Kacey Musgraves released "Oh, What A World 2.0" Wednesday morning, an Earth Day fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund.

April 22 is Earth Day around the world, and Kacey Musgraves is celebrating with new music. Sort of: Early Wednesday morning, she released "Oh, What A World 2.0" — a reworked version of a song from 2018's Golden Hour — on her YouTube channel, alongside a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund.

At least initially, Musgraves peels off some of the instrumentation from the album version, and sings the opening verse — which is most directly about natural wonder — over a simple finger-picked guitar accompaniment.

It can feel a little strange listening to a song about the great outdoors during a time when almost the entire world is confined to their homes, but the pre-chorus refrain — "These are real things" — is also a reminder that what Musgraves is singing about still exists, and will still be there whenever it's safe to go outside.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jon Lewis is a freelance writer and producer based in New York.