Kacey Musgraves Cracks Jokes About Her Polarizing Disco ‘Balls’ at Shows: ‘My Manager Didn’t Tell Me No’

One country singer recently called the prop a "cry for help." Kacey Musgraves performs at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 31, 2026, in New York City. Taylor Hill/WireImage Trending on Billboard Kacey Musgraves knows people might think she’s totally nuts for incorporating a giant disco “balls” prop into her Middle of Nowhere Tour, but that’s just fine with her. At her Tuesday (Sept. 1) show in New York City, the star levitated above the Madison Square Garden crowd while sitting on the polarizing prop, which depicts human male testicles covered in glimmering mirror tiles. “My manager didn’t tell me no,” she cracked while singing “Rhinestoned” from her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in May. The night prior at MSG, Musgraves made some hilariously unsubtle comments tying the disco testes into a speech about what it takes to do what she does. “It takes two really big, slightly asymmetrical, sparkly balls — and perseverance!” she quipped. “A lot of perseverance.” “And also my Nana, something that she always told me,” Musgraves continued, as captured in fan footage. “She was like, ‘Honey, if you’re gonna do something, you better do it big, and you gotta do it sparkly.’ And I don’t know if this is what she had in mind, but aren’t they nice?” The singer-songwriter’s glitzy gonads made their debut on Aug. 21 in Chicago during the kickoff show of her trek. They’ve certainly caught people’s attention, with some appreciating the humor while others definitely don’t. “I would say in a world of Kacey Musgraves, be an Ella Langley,” country artist John Rich said in a clicky moment from Tomi Lahren Is Fearless, calling Musgraves’ stage design choice a “cry for help.” “In country music, if you have to lean on something like that to get people to pay attention to you, it kind of says something about your music. You don’t see Ella Langley doing something like that … I think it’s kind of a comment on your music sometimes if you have to do ridiculous circus-ish things to that level to get somebody to talk about you.” Musgraves’ tour will continue across the United States through the end of October. In January and February, she’ll play a run of shows in Australia, Scotland and England. See Musgraves riding on her “slightly asymmetrical” tour prop below. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up