During her appearance on the first episode of Saturday Night Live's 47th season over the weekend (Oct. 2), Kacey Musgraves offered up a particularly bold performance of her new song, "Justified." She took the stage wearing nothing but a pair of cowboy boots and a strategically placed acoustic guitar, sitting cross-legged on a stool with her band playing from the shadows behind her.

But according to Variety, Musgraves' performance was more than just memorable: It was also historic, marking the first time an SNL guest has taken the stage in the nude. That information comes via the singer's publicist, who also confirms that Musgraves really was fully naked as she sang, adding that "precautions were taken."

One Reddit user who claims to have been at the live taping can elaborate on what those "precautions" were. "Right before her first song, they set up a moveable wall, blocking the audience from seeing her," that person writes. "After the song, they moved it back to cover her again and covered her with some sort of towel/robe. She was super chill, kinda walked off stage in the towel and waved. But yeah, seemed pretty legit."

Musgraves herself has offered some hints about the inspiration behind her decision to perform naked. Around the time she hit the SNL stage, the singer tweeted a screengrab of a scene from the movie Forrest Gump in which Jenny, the titular character's love interest, performs nude in a similar posture.  Musgraves didn't elaborate on why she opted to pay tribute to that scene specifically.

"Justified" comes from the track list of Star-Crossed, Musgraves' fifth and newest studio album. During the same SNL episode, she also performed another of the project's songs, "Camera Roll." Star-Crossed arrived in September 2021.

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