Krzysztof W.@krzysztof.w

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The VMAs got one quiet minute and it landed harder than anything else on that stage. Kacey Musgraves used it to sing I Will Always Love You for Dolly Parton, with no dancers, no fireworks, nothing dressed up to distract you. The song came from a girl in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, who wrote it in 1973 on her way out of Porter Wagoner's life. She was leaving a man she loved and found a way to close the door without slamming it. That's not a manufactured moment. That's a woman who started with close to nothing and turned herself into someone nobody could forget. Dolly died last month, and for those few minutes the room seemed to remember what actual talent sounds like. It's the America people like to act like they don't miss.

3w

Krzysztof W.@krzysztof.w

Follow

The VMAs got one quiet minute and it landed harder than anything else on that stage. Kacey Musgraves used it to sing I Will Always Love You for Dolly Parton, with no dancers, no fireworks, nothing dressed up to distract you. The song came from a girl in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, who wrote it in 1973 on her way out of Porter Wagoner's life. She was leaving a man she loved and found a way to close the door without slamming it. That's not a manufactured moment. That's a woman who started with close to nothing and turned herself into someone nobody could forget. Dolly died last month, and for those few minutes the room seemed to remember what actual talent sounds like. It's the America people like to act like they don't miss.

3w