“The Weakness” by Ruston Kelly

The presumption would be that the inspiration behind “The Weakness”, which was written exclusively by Ruston Kelly, was his relationship with Kacey Musgraves. The way Ruston described this piece – or more specifically the project named after it – is as an effort focused on him acknowledging his own personal weaknesses. 

But as for this particular track, as it progresses, it becomes pretty obvious that it is romantic in nature. As the narrative unfolds, it appears Ruston is lamenting, most simply interpreted, losing his significant other to another man.

As far as we know, there isn’t any evidence or rumors of Kacey having cheated on Ruston. But one of the reasons it wouldn’t be out of the way to speculate that this song was at least inspired by their relationship is because it does sorta infer that the vocalist and addressee are married. 

“The Weakness”

The term “the weakness”, as presented, seemingly points to the temptation for the two of them to dead their relationship. 

But as the singer idealizes, they do not “give in to the weakness”. At least as he perfectly envisions it, they will not become disheartened to the point of terminating their romance. That sounds like something a spouse would say, i.e. someone who is permanently committed to the relationship at hand.

And by the looks of things the vocalist adhered to that ideal, but the other party didn’t. Even though the above idea is relayed in the present tense, it is also revealed, definitively in the second verse, that the addressee has already gone her separate way.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day, we can’t definitively say that this is about Kacey Musgraves. The prevailing understanding is that she did go on to date another guy about a year after she and Kelly divorced. But if we were to take her as the muse behind this piece, then generally interpreted it can be taken that Ruston has come to regret their separation, i.e. it being an event that still adversely affects him emotionally.

Ruston Kelly

Ruston Kelly is a country artist who established himself as a songwriter before commencing his own discography in 2017. Also interesting to note is that for a time, he was married to someone significantly higher in the industry, that being Kacey Musgraves. Ruston and Kacey were married from 2017 to 2020.

As for Ruston’s own efforts, he has a couple of studio albums under his belt. In 2018, he came out with “Dying Star”. 2020 saw him release “Shape & Destroy”. 

When was “The Weakness” released?

Rounder Records released “The Weakness” on 17 January 2023. It is the lead single and title track from his third album.