Monday Memos: 2014 CMA Recap

Hello people of the internet!!! Ok, last Wednesday (November 6th) was the 47th annual CMA awards and A LOT of stuff happened. Ready?  Ok, let’s get started!

Hosts:

Once again the talented and hilarious duo of Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley hosted the CMAs. The duo’s monologue included many funny moments including a rendition of ‘Why can’t we be friends’ which discussed celebrity feuds. The actual feud between Zac Brown of The Zac Brown Band and Luke Bryan was finally settled when the two singers hugged (awww!). As well as the feud among the Jonas Brothers, the feud between Sinead O’Connor and Miley Cyrus, as well as the feud between Jimmy Kimmel and Kanye West. The opening scene of the show also included a parody of ‘Blurred Lines’, where Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, and the cast of ‘Duck Dynasty’ imitated Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke’s performance at the 2013 VMAs. The final laugh of the night for the duo was a joke about the frustration that the American public has had with the Obamacare Health Plan, which was set to the tune of ‘Amarillo by Morning’ by George Strait. All in all the banter between Carrie and Brad was really great, and once again showed what a great and hilarious team they make.

Winners:

• Single of the Year: ‘Cruise’ by Florida Georgia Line

This infectious song was all over country and mainstream radio this summer and was even remixed with the help of Hip Hop recording artist Nelly. Cross-over radio popularity and a killer remix on the first single of a new album?!…I can definitely see more success in this duo’s future.

• Song of the Year: ‘I drive your truck’ by Lee Brice

This heartwarming song about a fallen Afghanistan solider and the father who mourns him is performed with such powerful emotion by Lee Brice that I can see why this song deserved the title of ‘song of the year’.

•   Vocal Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line

I think the success of cruise explains why this duo deserves the award.

• New Artist of the Year: Kacey Musgrave

Although Kacey experienced previous success with her single ‘Merry Go Round’, her career was never the same when ITunes featured ‘Blowin Smoke’ as the ‘free single of the week’. With her new single ‘Follow your Arrow’ blowing up the charts, and her work on Miranda Lambert’s song ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’, Kacey is definitely an artist to watch.

•    Music Video of the Year: ‘Highway Don’t Care’ by Tim McGraw feat. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban

In my opinion this music video is not only a great PSA about the dangers of texting and driving, but a piece of art. When I first saw this video, I was captivated from beginning to end. I definitely believe that this was the music video of the year.

• Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award: Kenny Rogers

Really what can be said about the legendary Kenny Rogers?! With more than 120 hit singles, 130 million records sold worldwide, numerous Grammys/AMAs/ACMs/CMAs, and a career that began in 1958 and is still going strong, I think that his credentials speak for themselves.

• Album of the Year: ‘Based on a True Story’ by Blake Shelton

From the party anthem ‘Boys Round Here’, to the emotional ballad ‘Mine Would be You’, Blake’s latest album has so much versatility and honesty that it is easy to see why this album was a favorite this year

• Pinnacle Award: Taylor Swift

Now I know that we all know who this artist is, I mean she somehow knows every detail of our lives and writes songs about it, so she’s everyone’s BFF right? Well her beautiful voice and incredible songwriting ability has helped her receive this prestigious award at the tender age of 23. Not bad Taylor!

• Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town

With previous hits ‘Pontoon’ and ‘Tornado’, this is a group that couldn’t miss. Also, their harmonies, and pure vocal chops are always on point, which was evident by their performance of their new single ‘Sober’ on the very night they won this award.

• Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert

With a long career of hits (most recently ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’, ‘We were Us’, and ‘All Kinds of Kinds’, Miranda is definitely the woman to beat, and she once again let all know on one of country music’s biggest nights.

• Male Vocalist of the Year: Blake Shelton

Blake once again proves why he has had such great success finding incredible talent on the ‘Voice’; on Wednesday he showed that he is the man to beat by becoming the male “voice” of country music for this year.

• Entertainer of the Year: George Strait

Although many amazing artists were nominated for this award, “King” George proves that he still has it after all these years by topping country music with this coveted award.

Performances:

There were so many amazing performances this year so let’s get started!

• The show kicked off with Luke Bryan performing a shortened version of his hit ‘My Kinda Night’, which also included a snippet of ‘Cruise’ with Florida Georgia Line, and then the artists all finished ‘My Kinda Night’. The performance of these two songs was entertaining, from the amazing vocals, to the staging and lighting, it was such a great way to open the show.

• Jason Aldean sang his song ‘Night Train’ later in the show, and the staging was incredible. Jason performed in a manufactured train box car with a background screen which displayed trees, and dark lights shadowed the stage.

• New Artist of the Year Kacey Musgrave performed her new hit ‘Follow Your Arrow’, which displayed her ability to captivate a crowd without theatrics.

• Power trio Lady Antebellum performed their newest single ‘Compass’, which was made complete by the trio’s stunning vocals, as well as the background screen which had revolving pictures of compasses, roads, and people on horses.

• Group Little Big Town played their hit ‘Sober’, which placed their outstanding vocals front and center. The presence of candles in a circle around the stage further added to the ballad.

• Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert displayed why their new single ‘We were Us’ has been burning up the charts, by giving an electrifying performance of the song.

• Next up was country superstar Taylor Swift’s epic performance of her song ‘Red’, with country legends Alison Krauss and Vince Gill, as well as Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer, and Eric Darken. The softer take of the track definitely added a new dimension to it, which made an amazing song even better.

• Florida Georgia Line appeared once again, and this time performed their hit ‘Round Here’, which once again showed how amazing the duo is.

• The next performance was by Hunter Hayes and Jason Mraz, who performed their duet version of Hunter’s hit song ‘Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me’. The performance showcased both artists’ vocal talent, as well as Hunter’s amazing guitar skills. Which ended with Hunter presenting the New Artist of the Year Award to Kacey Musgrave.

• Eric Church performed his new song ‘The Outsiders’ next, which was spectacularly performed with the assistance of smoke, lights, fire, and a cool guitar solo.

• The Band Perry was up next with their new song ‘Don’t Let me be Lonely’, which was spectacular due to the band’s stellar vocals and amazing special effects.

• Next up, Tim McGraw performed his newest hit ‘Southern Girl’, which showed that like a wine, country superstars only get better with time (sorry for the unintentional rhyming).

• Blake Shelton was next with his emotional ballad ‘Mine Would be You’, which showed off the Male Vocalist of the Year’s “voice”.

• Internet sensations Lennon and Maisy performed a unique cover of ‘You Belong with Me’ to Taylor Swift right before she was presented with the Pinnacle Award, which resulted in a sweet moment among the three vocalist, in which Taylor hugged Maisy, which was immediately followed by video testimonies by numerous artists that Taylor opened up for when she was a new artist.

• Carrie Underwood performed amazingly as usual, her performance included renditions of her hit songs ‘Good Girl’, ‘Blown Away’, ‘Two Black Cadillacs’, and ‘See You Again’. While she performed, clips of all of Carrie’s music videos appeared on the screen behind her.

• Country legends Alan Jackson and George Strait paid tribute to the iconic George Jones by with their breathtaking performance of George Jones’s hit song ‘He Stopped Loving her today’. As they performed the song, images of George Jones and his wife appeared on the screen behind Alan Jackson and George Strait.

• The Zac Brown Band, with the assistance of Dave Grohl( of the the band ‘The Foo Fighters’), gave their new song ‘Day for the Dead’ a great debut due to their energetic performance.

• Next up was Brad Paisley who performed his new single ‘Mona Lisa’, which was given extra character due to Brad’s shirt, which had an image of the Mona Lisa on it. Paisley not only showed off his amazing talent as a vocalist, but also did a breathtaking guitar solo that left the crowd in awe.

• Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Kenny Rogers was honored next, with a medley of some of his hit songs performed by Jennifer Nettles(of country duo Sugarland), Darius Rucker, and Rascal Flatts. The number was made extra special when Kenny Rogers sang his classic hit ‘Islands in the Stream’ with Jennifer Nettles.

• Darius Rucker closed the show with his performance of the song ‘Wagon Wheel’, which was unfortunately cut off mid performance, but was still wonderfully done.

So all in all, the 47th annual CMA awards were full of hilarious moments and amazing musical numbers. The show definitely did not disappoint, and made me excited for next year.

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