Host Reba McEntire kicked off the 2019 ACM Awards with a flawless monologue that set
the tone for a nearly perfect evening of song and laughter.
It was smooth sailing from there — almost.
Here are the best and worst moments from country music's biggest night.
Reba McEntire's opening monologue
Country music legend Reba McEntire hosted the ACM Awards for a record sixteenth time,
and it's easy to see why.
She's hilarious.
And her opening monologue was no exception.
The 64-year-old welcomed the crowd and television audience to "Reba Las Vegas" before saying
she never gets tired of hosting.
"Tired of being in charge of the greatest night in country?
Heck, no!
My name is Reba McEntire and I haven't been tired in 53 years!"
Later, she called out the fact that there were no women nominated in the Entertainer
of the Year category.
"Did you know it snowed in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago?
Yeah… it was so cold that it froze us women out of Entertainer of the Year."
But her biggest laugh came after she claimed she'd be performing a duet with rapper Cardi
B.
"I'm just kidding, but I do have a song we can do together.
There's no U in Oklahoma, and that's OKURR with me."
This collaboration needs to happen immediately.
Lil Nas X, anyone?
In the age of social media, Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X proved there's no longer one way
to top the charts.
His rap/country hybrid "Old Town Road" caught steam on TikTok and blew up on YouTube, scoring
30 million views in just four months.
As Rolling Stone reports, Billboard pulled the song from the country chart, claiming
that the banjo-friendly hit did
"...not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version."
In response to the controversial move, Lil Nas X told Genius:
"After listening to other songs that's actually on that chart, it's like, 'Wait a minute,
something's not right, basically."
The removal sparked a debate on race and country music, according to The New York Times, who
cited Nashville artists like Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, who have both incorporated
elements of hip-hop into their chart-topping hits.
Well, if Billboard wanted more country in "Old Town Road," they got it when Lil Nas
X invited country legend Billy Ray Cyrus onto the remix.
Cyrus himself called attention to the controversy in a tweet, writing:
"What's not country about it?
… It's honest, humble, and has an infectious hook, and a banjo.
What the hell more do ya need?"
If the 2019 ACM Awards wanted to break ratings records, they should've gotten Lil Nas X and
Billy Ray Cyrus to perform.
But it looks like Lil Nas X is getting the last laugh: On April 9, 2019, the day after
the ACM Award Awards aired, Pitchfork announced that "Old Town Road" was
"...the No. 1 Song in America."
Kacey Musgraves conquers the world
2019 is Kacey Musgraves' year.
Her critically acclaimed third album Golden Hour won Album of the Year at the ACM Awards,
and then her night got even better.
Since 2010, Miranda Lambert had won every Female Artist of the Year award.
Musgraves broke that streak by taking home the trophy — the first of her young career.
She said the award, quote, "goes out to any woman, any girl or anybody..."
"...that is maybe being told that her perspective or her style is too different to work.
Just stay at it.
It'll work out."
As People notes, Musgraves became
"...the first artist to achieve the trifecta of winning album of the year at the Country
Music Association Awards, Grammy Awards and ACM Awards over the course of a year since
Taylor Swift."
Wow.
We're really looking forward to what she comes up with next.
Chrissy Metz's live performance debut
"This Is Us" star Chrissy Metz took the stage at the ACM Awards to perform a powerful rendition
of "I'm Standing With You" from her feature film debut, Breakthrough.
Halfway through, she was joined onstage by country stars Carrie Underwood, Lauren Alaina,
Maddie & Tae, and Mickey Guyton.
The inspirational ballad brought the house down and cemented Metz as a singer to be reckoned
with in the future.
Ahead of the show, she told People:
"I'm excited…
I mean, you know, as a little girl you always dream of something like this."
Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton
Country music stars Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton announced their divorce in 2015.
Flash forward four years later to Shelton and his longtime girlfriend Gwen Stefani attending
the star-studded show, where Lambert performed a medley of her biggest hits spanning her
almost two-decade career.
Included in the performance was her hit "Little Red Wagon" with a slight difference — she
changed the lyric "I live in Oklahoma" to "I got the hell out of Oklahoma."
So, what's the big deal?
Well…
Shelton is from Oklahoma.
Oh snap!
Fans were quick to notice the suspected shadiness, with one viewer taking to Twitter to write:
"Miranda Lambert singing TO AND AT Blake Shelton & Gwen is the type of energy I love."
Another commented:
"That was a classless move towards Blake, no reason for that.
#bitterness #getoverit."
Keith Urban remains the king of country
Six months after winning Entertainer of the Year at the CMAs, Aussie country crooner Keith
Urban took home the same award at the 2019 ACM Awards.
Urban was overcome with emotion as he accepted his award, and made sure to thank his wife
Nicole Kidman first:
"Baby Girl, I love you so much.
My team, thank you every one of you.
To the fans out there, you are amazing.
You have no idea how much you mean to me."
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