--- title: Everything to Know About Kacey Musgraves's Big Grammy Moment description: After country star Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year at the Grammys, her priceless facial expression was ripe to become meme. canonical: https://time.com/5528787/kacey-musgraves-meme/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-13T20:35:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:28.683Z og:title: Everything to Know About Kacey Musgraves's Big Grammy Moment og:description: Here's the story behind the Grammy-winning star's priceless reaction meme og:url: https://time.com/5528787/kacey-musgraves-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32f2bf698a88696/69894516e76ad25d80634295/kacey-musgraves-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4520 og:image:height: 2543 og:image:alt: 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everything to Know About Kacey Musgraves's Big Grammy Moment twitter:description: Here's the story behind the Grammy-winning star's priceless reaction meme twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32f2bf698a88696/69894516e76ad25d80634295/kacey-musgraves-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Story Behind That Kacey Musgraves' Priceless Grammy Reaction Meme > Sponsored content. 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Rodriguez—The Recording Academy/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 13, 2019 8:35 PM UTC Kacey Musgraves has had a big week: on Sunday night, she won [Album of the Year](http://time.com/5220105/kacey-musgraves-one-of-country-musics-worthiest-stars-golden-hour/) at the [61st Annual Grammy Awards](http://time.com/5526740/grammys-2019-review/) for her album [_Golden Hour._](http://time.com/5455075/best-albums-2018/) And by the middle of the week, she was already solidified as a popular a meme, thanks to her shocked reaction — caught on camera — after the winning album was announced. Musgraves, a critically-acclaimed country star, was up against stiff competition for Album of the Year, including Cardi B’s [_Invasion of Privacy_](http://time.com/5526525/grammys-2019-cardi-b-best-rap-album/), Kendrick Lamar’s soundtrack for the blockbuster [_Black Panther_](http://time.com/5514335/black-panther-wins-sag-awards-2019/), Drake’s [_Scorpion_](http://time.com/5326409/drake-scorpion-album-review/) and folk singer Brandi Carlile’s _By the Way, I Forgive You_. But in the end Musgraves — who also took home three other Grammys during the night, for Country Album, Country Song and Country Solo Performance — was the evening’s big winner, to her own surprise. In video of the moment, you can see Musgraves mouthing out the word “What?” repeatedly as she puts her hands up in astonishment. After tweeting out a still shot of her reaction on Tuesday, Musgraves had this to say: “Let the memes begin.” And her fans quickly took it upon themselves to follow her direction, putting together an admirable series of responses and alternative captions to her facial expression. ## **Kacey Mugraves Winning Album of the Year** > [](https://twitter.com/KaceyMusgraves/status/1095482678730620928) > [](https://twitter.com/breathinhaz/status/1095483713012539392) > [](https://twitter.com/justnoahtbh/status/1095497198920499200) > [](https://twitter.com/magdaciousss/status/1095483622918897666) > [](https://twitter.com/loco%5Fga/status/1095502343922245632) > [](https://twitter.com/teatrudy/status/1095507826385059840) > [](https://twitter.com/nashvillesuit/status/1095484366107672581) Musgraves is currently riding high on her success, with her latest single “Rainbow” finally getting [country radio airplay](https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8498014/kacey-musgraves-rainbow-shines-at-country-radio-grammys) after many radio stations mostly ignored the early single options off of _Golden Hour_. But with all those Grammys — and a viral meme — under her belt, Musgraves is now rightly getting the country radio attention that had [so far eluded her](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/kacey-musgraves-grammy-golden-hour-country-radio-793796/) over the release of three critically-acclaimed albums. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5528787/kacey-musgraves-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5528787/kacey-musgraves-meme/"},"headline":"Here's the Story Behind That Kacey Musgraves' Priceless Grammy Reaction Meme","datePublished":"2019-02-13T20:35:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:28.683Z","description":"\"Let the memes begin\"","url":"https://time.com/5528787/kacey-musgraves-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32f2bf698a88696/69894516e76ad25d80634295/kacey-musgraves-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32f2bf698a88696/69894516e76ad25d80634295/kacey-musgraves-grammys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"61st Annual GRAMMY Awards - Press Room","caption":"Grammy Winner Kacey Musgraves poses in the press room during the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards","creditText":"Alberto E. 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