The 2023 CMA Awards (and more)

This is going to be a long one.

On Wednesday November 8th, the 2023 CMA Awards were held. A lot was revealed this year about a lot of different aspects of the genre.

The first thing that should be said is that the show was just flat out better when Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley hosted it. They wrote their own jokes, tied everything back to Country Music, and were never cringe worthy. They also showed a true love for the genre and a passion for what they did as hosts every year.

To start, it is a common theme that the awards show veers farfrom a true celebration of Country Music each year. While previous years have been worse (like when Beyonce performed), I still believe this show did not represent the best that Country has to offer. It took 30 minutes to even hear some legit and current Country music from Ashley McBryde and Cody Johnson (two of the best the genre has to offer right now). I love Jelly Roll. He seems like a great human being, and all his fellow artists also seem to love him, but I just don’t think he should be performing and winning these awards at Country shows. He respects the genre and I appreciate that, so I would never say he should not be making music that people love in the genre, but he is not the best the genre has to offer. Also (people will hate me for this one), why was Post Malone there? He is the farthest thing from Country. While I have heard his rendition of “I’m Gonna Miss Her” and thought it wasn’t bad, that does not make him a Country Music artist. That does not mean he can just walk into the genre and be better than others who have worked harder to get to the respect they have in the genre. If he wants to make Country Music, that’s fine. Everyone has the freedom to evolve, but let’s not force it or act like he is superior than legit Country artists who have worked hard to get to where they are.

This leads me into HARDY and Morgan Wallen. HARDY has put out a variety of music in his career, and initially (as stated in my HARDY blog) I thought this was a good thing and really respected his work. While I still do, I just think he has gotten ahead of himself (this was evident in his Instagram video of him trying to pick an opening act for his headlining tour… go watch it). He pushed the rock side of his album way too hard to a Country audience (didn’t he realize the crowds he was playing to were Country fans?), he tried to do too much in the past year which showed in his vocals and in the fact that he had to cancel shows, and he’s already releasing new music. He needs to take a step back and regroup. His two covers of Joe Diffie songs for the next HIXTAPE seem random. Maybe he is trying to counteract all of the heavy metal rock from his last album, but whatever it is, I don’t think it works. Post Malone adds nothing to the song, and I don’t think we needed another HARDY and Wallen collaboration. I honestly think both covers were a disgrace to Joe Diffie (especially since they put him on the recorded versions and he couldn’t even have a say because he passed away in 2020).

On to Morgan Wallen. I can’t figure this guy out. He definitely understands his audience. He knows that some of his work is not Country and he himself stated that he never intended for songs like “Broadway Girls” to be played on Country radio (but as we know, they’ll do anything to make a dollar). He read the room with his song choice of “Man Made a Bar” with Eric Church for the CMA awards. He didn’t go out there and try and sing “Thinkin’ Bout Me’ which probably would have been out of touch. He also has definitely settled down since his incident and appears to genuinely want to be accepted by the Country community; however, he still continues to only surround himself with the same people. The whole “Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Ernest, and random other rebels” can only thrive for so long. They need to move on and continue growing. Even he sounded flat when covering Joe Diffie with HARDY. Furthermore, he was definitely upset that he did not win anything. I do think he should have won at least one award, but generally speaking, he is not the best Country has to offer either. He made his thoughts known on Instagram by posting “walked in tonight a winner, didn’t leave any different”. While not winning can absolutely be upsetting, this seems thoughtless and out of touch with how society works. These awards have always only awarded the same small groups of artists year after year. Also, it’s all a big political game. The industry votes for these awards, so the people most connected to the industry will win whether or not they deserve it. Morgan Wallen belongs to a smaller independent record label (meaning it is not owned by one of the major companies like Sony or Universal), so he does not have as many people within the industry that are pushing for him. The record labels and so called “industry” are going to do what is best for them, so they will vote and push for their artists. This is also well known, so I don’t think it was necessary to not just accept the results like every other loser has to do. He is the most “popular” person in Country right now, is on a global tour that sold a ton of tickets, and is living the dream; therefore, I do not think he should be that upset. What more does he want? At this point, I don’t think he will ever win any major awards. I’m assuming it’s because the industry will never fully accept him since he was cancelled and because he is not part of a major label. If he couldn’t win something at this years CMAs (when he was at his peak), there is not feasibly a way he could win in the future (based off the tendencies of the industry voters of the CMAs). I really would not let this get him down because some of the best Country artists have been ones to even boycott awards shows.

Alright, time for the elephant in the room. Lainey Wilson. Let me start off by saying that Lainey Wilson is Country, deserving of all the praise she gets, and appears to be a genuinely good person who loves and respects the genre. I am beyond thrilled that she won basically everything at the CMAs and that she has had a killer year at all award shows. She deserves it all. She is a true female Country artist that gives me such hope for the future. I will say, however, that it does seem like the “industry” chooses artists to just full steam ahead support and promote. It happened with Chris Stapleton, and it is happening with Lainey Wilson. Luckily, they both deserve it. Luckily, they both are amazing representations of what Country Music is. With Lainey Wilson winning Entertainer of the Year, it raised many questions from fans and even people in the genre. If Lainey Wilson can win it as still an opening act and at the awards where it is only her second year being nominated, shouldn’t some very specific women have won it since 2011 (the last time a female won it)? Shouldn’t Carrie Underwood have won it in 2019 when she accomplished her own list longer than this blog is?... where she was literally the entire embodiment of what it meant to be an entertainer of the year? Where fans, industry members, and fellow artists went into an uproar because everyone knew her not winning that year was complete nonsense. The answer is yes. The answer is that Carrie Underwood should have won it even multiple times at this point but specifically that year. Miranda Lambert also should have won it if these are the standards set by the CMA Awards. By no means am I saying Lainey Wilson did not deserve it. She did, but it was a slap in the face to fellow women in the genre (specifically Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert who single handedly kept the female voice alive during bro-country). Some people think that this was a great day for women in country. Some think that this showed that the industry is changing and will continue honoring women in the genre as they deserve to be. I do not. I think Lainey Wilson is the exception to the rule. I am glad she is the exception, but I do not believe this means things are changing.

To conclude, I wish that the CMA Awards were a true representation of the best Country Music has to offer (and I mean legit Country artists showing off how great real Country can be). I wish it showcased the best of the current artists (not just what is trendy) while also honoring the past. Please stop bringing in random artists from other genres. There is a reason we have our own awards show. I wish they weren’t as filled with politics where the best and most deserving artist doesn't win. Lastly, I wish they would bring back Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood to host.

Also, where were all the biggest stars even at? Miranda, Carrie, Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Jon Pardi? Even some of the older artists that will just attend because they are part of genre were not there… is this telling? You decide :)

#CountryMusic #Nashville #CMAawards2023 #paisleywood