The CMT Music Awards happened last night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. I feel like music award shows come around as often as new reality TV shows these days. And with the country/rap/pop collaborations and “BroCountry” that’s so popular right now, I sometimes forget I’m watching a Country Music Awards show…which is both good and bad. I do love fun collaborations and mixing music genres, but I also love a good old fashioned country song. And there wasn’t too much of that this year.

The night started out with Lady Antebellum performing “Long Stretch of Love” and a techno-like party song with DJ Zedd. It was a good way to start the night off with some high energy, but not very country. There were tons of performances including Luke Bryan performing “Kick The Dust Up,” Zac Brown Band performing “Homegrown,” FGL performed “Anything Goes,” Keith Urban performed his newest single “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” Kenny Chesney performed “American Kids,” Jason Aldean performed “Tonight Looks Good On You,” and Darius Rucker performed “Homegrown Honey.” But let’s talk about the best performances of the night.

Reba McEntire! Thank goodness for Reba! Besides the 10 artists we hear on the radio every day and who get nominated for every award, it was awesome to see a performance from an amazing artist that’s been a country star since the ’80s. She performed “Going Out Like That” and was as amazing and beautiful as ever.

 
Eric Church performed “Like A Wrecking Ball.” It was very simple, stripped down, with the fans all just chilling around him. He sounded great and besides Reba’s, it was the best performance of the night.

 
Jake Owen performed his newest single “Real Life.” I love the song. It reminds me of small town country. I just want to get in my car and drive down some dirt roads and blast it. His lyric video is equally awesome. If you love country and float trips and bonfires, it will bring back some memories for you. The live performance was a little weird with Jake crowd surfing in on a blow up mattress, and dancers in beach attire hanging out on blow up pizza slices and donuts. But it was fun and lively and I’m digging that song.

 
Carrie Underwood performed “Little Toy Guns.” As always, she looked HOT. And there was smoke, flashes of light, emotions, and they showed her husband Mike Fischer singing along to the song, which was just adorable. I’m a sucker for cute couples. They showed Nicole Kidman singing along when Keith performed as well. So cute.

 
Sam Hunt performed “House Party” and I have no words. Ok, maybe one…Beautiful. His voice, his all white outfit, tight pants, and tennis shoes. Yes. He ran around and took a bunch of selfies with the fans and I was thinking I should have sold my car and purchased tickets so I could be touched by him. Maybe next year…

 
Speaking of next year, let’s count the male to female ratio of the night’s performances. Males: 10 (roughly) Females: 2 (3 counting Hillary from the group Lady Antebellum). There are so many amazing female country singers: Miranda, Kacey Musgraves, Trisha Yearwood, Maddie and Tae, Cassadee Pope (who won an award last year), Danielle Bradbery…and so many more. Next year I hope to see many more female performances.

In addition to the performances, there were plenty of interesting moments. Here are some of my favorites:

Justin Bieber and James Corden made another Carpool Karaoke video. It was short but still awesome. I’ve never been a big fan of Justin Bieber, but recently he’s been making a better name for himself and when he went on the Late Late Show and rocked out to “Baby” and kicked ass at a rubik’s cube, well let’s just say it’s impossible to dislike him after this.

Noah Galloway and Rumer Willis, contestants in this season’s Dancing With The Stars, presented Duo of the Year together. Rumer was the season’s winner and Noah, a former Army soldier who lost his leg and arm from an IED in Iraq, came in third place. They were both an inspiration during the show. I love them both; but especially Rumer, who danced flawlessly the whole season and is breathtaking. I was so excited to see them again. Too bad they didn’t perform.

There were some other moments that were both great and awkward at the same time. Here are my top picks for Great Awkward Moments:

Kellie Pickler and Billy Ray Cyrus presented Performance of the Year. But before they did, they each had to plug their upcoming reality TV shows. Yes, that’s right, both are coming out with their own reality shows. Kellie’s is uniquely called “I Love Kellie Pickler” and Billy’s is called “Still The King.” I do in fact love Kellie Pickler but I’d rather hear her sing, and I’m sorry but was Billy ever “the King” to begin with? Awkward.

In a Guuber bit, Alan Jackson and Steven Tyler sang a duet of “Don’t Rock The Jukebox” and “Walk This Way.” He also plugged his new country song “Love Is Your Name” by badgering Alan into letting him scream…I mean sing a part of it. I love them both but together it was just uncomfortable. Check it out and tell me if I’m being too harsh.

 
And now for the reason we all watch the CMT Awards or any awards show…for the awards. Here’s who won the 2015 CMT Music Awards:

Best Collaborative Video: Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood for “Somethin’ Bad”

Breakthrough Video of the Year: Sam Hunt for “Leave The Night On”

Duo Video of the Year: Florida Georgia Line for “Dirt”

Female Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood for “Something in the Water”

Group Video of the Year: Lady Antebellum for “Bartender” featuring Kate Upton

Male Video of the Year: Luke Bryan for “Play It Again”

Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood “Something in the Water”

Performance of the Year: Bob Seger & Jason Aldean performing “Turn The Page”

That was a great collaboration, but there several other cool collaborations that were nominees for Performance of the Year as well. My favorite was Kacey Musgraves with Katy Perry. They were nominated for their “Roar” performance from CMT Crossroads, but they sang several songs together and the best by far was “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” originally sung by Bonnie Raitt. They performed it beautifully and being a country song, it made more sense to choose it for the nomination. Either way, I needed to share it.

 
If you want to see the full awards show and the red carpet looks, you can check it all out at CMT.com.

Mills Properties