“Slow Burn” introduces Kacey Musgraves’s Golden Hour, an album that sees her moving away from sharp-tongued deconstructions of small-town living and superficiality toward romance and warmth, on which she’s “leading more with my heart than with my brain.” One of her “most autobiographical songs,” “Slow Burn” finds Musgraves carving out her own path, now living in Nashville with new husband Ruston Kelly and finding new comfort in enjoying her days at a slower, more appreciative pace.

Kacey has stated that this song is her favorite on the record.

In a video interview with the New York Times, Musgraves detailed writing this song while on acid:

I came up with the chorus on a spiritual journey, so to speak. I think anything that puts me, or any human, outside of their egotistical state of living is a really healthy thing now and then, in moderation obviously. It was LSD, yeah. I was just sitting on my front porch thinking and I was just like, ‘Man, I love a slow burn.’ That can apply to so many areas of my life, that can apply to like relationships, good drink, you sip on a glass of wine for a long time, you savor it you don’t rush to the finish line. it did open my mind a little bit. It made me take a step back and really think about where I am and what I want and the crazy time we live in.