You wrote Golden Hour in your late twenties. I'm also an '88 baby. I'm curious as to how you've adjusted to early thirties.

I think women are kind of tagged with a little bit of that societal expectations that age can bring negative things, but I find it to be the opposite for me. I mean, I'm really enjoying it. I'm enjoying mentally and confidence-wise a slower pace of things. What sums it up for me, turning 30 and this whole past year and everything, is less but better. Just only having enough space for what you really want and what you really need.

Learning to say no is a big part of it, too.

And saying no! That's okay and it actually makes room for things that you are really excited about, so you're not spreading yourself too thin whether it's with how many friends you have or how many f**king clothes you have in your closet. It's just making sure that what you do have is quality. I just think that's a nice thing for me to hold on to right now.

All the shine you're received has been because you've always stuck to your MO even with "Merry Go 'Round" until now. Considering how fickle the industry is, I was wondering about your take on Lil Nas X and that whole controversy surrounding "Old Town Road."

Look, it's interesting. I think anybody that has something to say for themselves deserves a chance to be heard and I'm personally really tired of the conversation of "What is country?" or "What is not country?" It's been so beaten to the ground. Country has been many different things for many years, and the only thing that I really care about is if something's authentic to itself. Is it authentic? Does it move me? Is it a good song? Those things, to me, mean more than whether or not somebody's male or female singing them, whether or not it fits into a certain genre specific box, whether they're gay, whether they're straight, whether they're black or white or whatever. It's just like, "Can we just look at the music?" Because really that's why we're here. That's the whole reason any of this conversation's even existing and I think it can be taken so far away from that sometimes. But, I'm like, "Who really gives a sh*t if you can say that this is country or not? Is it special? Or does it move you in some way?" It's so subjective. Everything speaks to different people for different reasons. I'm just like, "Just do your thing." I'm gonna do mine.

You have an exhibit coming out to the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year. What kind of stuff are fans going to see?

Oh my gosh. Well, there's only a few embarrassing photos that I've pulled. I had to tell my mom to put the rest in the box at home. It's gonna be starting in '88 and bringing everybody up to speed until now. Visually, I think that it'll be something really fun to look at. You know I love sparkle and color. It'll just be a timeline of some of my most favorite memories and possessions up until now. I'm really excited. I went home to Golden and I helped curate all of this stuff with my mom because she's kept everything of mine. Like all the outfits I've ever worn, and all the pictures. I'm glad somebody's been keeping track of that sh*t 'cause I haven't.

We're putting together a nice little thing, but it starts in Golden, Texas and it ends now. It feels a little bit funny, I have to say, at 30 to be putting together something like that. You don't think of that being something that you do until you're 70 and looking back on your life, but I appreciate the Country Music Hall of Fame. I am a fan of bringing young people together to learn about what country music's about. It's actually a really great genre and the Hall of Fame itself is really interesting. Even if you don't like country or you don't know anything about country music, the articles that they have in there are undeniably cool. They have Elvis' Cadillac. It's completely gold. There's like 24 karat gold all over it. They have Dolly Parton clothing. They have a bunch of cool stuff anyway, so it's gonna be fun.

Speaking of fans, you have a big LGBTQ following. With Pride month approaching, what do you have to say to your queer following that has been championing you along?

Well, we have some rainbow body paint coming out, so get yourself some. But, I would mostly just have to say thank you. I have a lot of people in the LGBTQ community coming up to me and saying, "I grew up in a small town. I love country music and I've always felt like it was a party that I wasn't invited to." That really broke my heart because country music really is about real life, real people and real songs. Though, I don't fully align myself as just being in just the country music genre, it would be very important for me to have people feel included there. I love the gay community. I really do. Like, I would die, I would die for them. Secretly, I feel like, well, not even secretly, I feel like I'm a gay male trapped inside my own body or maybe a drag queen. I feel like my best when I look almost like a drag queen.

Let's talk about that wig on RuPaul's Drag Race.

He did it. [points to stylist] It was stacked like he laid that sh*t right. I think I have a bulging disc just from that one show. If you can't go big at RuPaul's then you just need to go the f**k home.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.