Kacey Musgraves finally reveals what led to Miranda Lambert feud: ‘Wouldn’t consider each other friends’

Kacey Musgraves revealed that her decade-long feud with Miranda Lambert started over a song.

The music star explained that she was behind Lambert’s 2011 mega-hit “Mama’s Broken Heart,” and she initially wrote it for herself.

“It was gonna be my first single and I loved the song so much,” she said in an interview with NPR Wednesday. “I had been a staff writer for years at that point, writing for other people, and had finally felt like I was collecting songs that felt like me that I didn’t wanna pitch to anyone else.”

The eight-time Grammy winner claimed that the song was pitched to Lambert without her “consent or knowledge” and Lambert ultimately got to put the song on her 2011 album, “Four the Record,” because she was a bigger star at the time.

“It was a tricky situation. She ended up loving the song and she really wanted it. And I had other co-writers to consider,” the “High Horse” songstress, 37, recalled.

“It was two singers from two nearby, small Texas towns. There’s a lot that comes with that. Then we each take our own different paths, both leading us to Nashville at different times,” Musgraves, who like Lambert is from Texas, further explained.

Looking back on the whole debacle now, Musgraves is satisfied with the decision because it “forced” her to write “Merry Go Round,” which was a better fit for her debut record. That set ended up winning the Grammy in 2014 for best country album.

Not only was she able to bury that hatchet, Musgraves reached out to Lambert, 42, to collaborate on the song “Horses and Divorces” on her upcoming album, “Middle of Nowhere.”

“We’d lost touch for years and wouldn’t consider each other friends. I saw her on Instagram one day, riding one of her horses, and I was like, ‘Well, we ain’t friends, but I guess we have two things in common, horses and divorces, that’s for sure,’” Musgraves quipped.

Lambert and her first husband, Blake Shelton, divorced in 2015, and Musgraves and her ex-husband, Ruston Kelly, divorced in 2020.

Seeing her on social media made Musgraves think of a “really funny song” and decided to “randomly” reach out so they could co-write and record it together.

“I was like, ‘I know we’ve had our s–t over the years, but listen, we’ve at least got two things in common,’” Musgraves said. “‘I’m not trying to be your friend. You got your life, I have mine. But I think this would be a pretty f–king funny song, and we should write it with Shane [McAnally].’”

When Lambert responded saying she was in, Musgraves said “it was very full circle in so many ways.” They “aired out any of the old laundry,” had “some laughs” and wrote the song “in a matter of a few hours.”

Knowing that many of their fans have speculated about their feud for years, the duo used it in order to promote the duet, which comes out May 1.

Both singers took to their Instagram Stories Monday and shared a shady video of them at the 2013 CMA Awards. In the throwback clip, Lambert is accepting the female vocalist of the year award, which Musgraves was also nominated for.

Earlier in the evening, Musgraves had won new artist of the year, which Lambert referenced in her acceptance speech, saying, “Kacey, congratulations on new artist, that was awesome. East Texas girls gotta stick together.”

But when the camera panned to Musgraves in the audience, the “Space Cowboy” singer looked very unpleased.

Musgraves was the first of the two to share the clip on Monday and wrote,“You knew that I’d said some things about you 🙄,” and tagging Lambert.

The Pistol Annies member subsequently reposted the clip and responded to Musgraves, writing, “Well I’ve done my fair share of s–t talkin’ too.”

At first, fans thought the posts were Musgraves and Lambert reigniting their feud, but once the track list for Musgraves’ album was released on Wednesday, it became clear that the two stars put their differences behind them.