Musgraves talks about her fault in the breakdown of her relationship, indicating that perhaps she wasn’t perfect and had she been her marriage may have worked out.

However, by wishing she was an “angel” she’s really showing that the wife she had to be to succeed in this relationship wasn’t realistic nor human. Humans and marriages are faulty, they aren’t perfect, and her wishing to be someone or something else shows her desperation to both save her marriage and the person she loves.

Ultimately Angel highlights how much Musgraves wanted to save her marriage, even blaming herself for things beyond her control and trying to become a different, impossibly perfect version of herself.

This song heavily, whether intentionally or not, responds to Ruston Kelly’s song “Changes”, which talks about the breakdown of their marriage and the effect it was having on both of them.

Ruston Kelly - Changes — Genius

Verse 1] / What the hell am I doing down here? / I thought that I was finally in the clear / But all it takes is once to make your demons reappear / What the hell am I doing down