Even with the same goal the two take different approaches. Ms. Musgraves’s assault is full frontal. Her indictments come with names, or at least a boatload of identifying details. They’re about the enemy. Ms. Monroe’s, on the other hand, are sung into the mirror. They’re about the enemy within.

Social suffocation is a recurring theme for both. Ms. Musgraves’s “Merry Go ’Round” is a scathing indictment of the pieties of small towns: “If you ain’t got two kids by 21/You’re probably gonna die alone/Least that’s what tradition told you.” Even better is the wry “Blowin’ Smoke,” about dead-end waitresses confronting their expired aspirations:

Between the lunch and dinner rush

Kelly caught that outbound bus for Vegas

And we’re all out here talkin’ trash, makin’ bets

Lips wrapped ’round our cigarettes

She always thought she was too good to be a waitress

Ms. Musgraves has a sweet character to her sound, which allows her to deliver a cynic’s wisdom in the voice of an inquisitive child. The logical result of that is “Follow Your Arrow,” a song about embracing self-determination in the face of social disapproval — and also offering a tacit endorsement of same-sex relationships — which could be played on “Sesame Street,” it’s so cheerfully guileless.

While Ms. Musgraves uses humor and brightness to sweeten her bitter pills, Ms. Monroe serves hers raw. Two songs — “Monroe Suede” and the title track — begin with a dead father, a distracted mother and a narrator who’ll do anything to reinvent herself. In “Monroe Suede” she sings:

A third grade education won’t bring you no luck

When you’re looking for a way to get paid

Turned 14 and stole a pickup truck