Female singers rock the CMT Artists of the Year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country singers Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Kelsea Ballerini honored each other and celebrated their shared successes at the CMT Artists of the Year show.
Female singers rocked the stage, geeked out over one another and showcased women’s impact on country music’s past, present and future during the award show held Wednesday at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tenn. The show will air on CMT at 9 p.m. tonight.
Twain, who is country music’s most successful female singer, was given the Artist of a Lifetime Award and was serenaded with a medley of her songs by female artists across three genres. Grammy winning pop singer Meghan Trainor and R&B singer Jill Scott joined Ballerini to sing Twain’s classic anthem to female strength, “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,” while Twain sang along from her seat in the crowd.
Twain made her name in the mid-’90s with her big pop country songs and her music videos that combined sex appeal, female empowerment and high fashion.
“I want to thank CMT for being such a huge support all these years even in my more rebellious years in the beginning when I was probably considered controversial, but you still put me on the air,” Twain said.
Underwood, who was one of the artists of the year, performed “Like I’ll Never Love You Again,” backed up by hit songwriters Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna. “Aren’t we blessed?” Underwood said. “God is good and he has definitely been good to me.”
Also honored as an artist of the year was Chris Stapleton, who held the crowd’s attention singing a solo rendition of “Whiskey and You.”
Luke Bryan was also honored at an artist of the year.
The duo Florida Georgia Line also was honored as an artist of the year and performed “May We All.”
Artist of the year honoree Thomas Rhett and Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson performed a mashup of his song “Die a Happy Man,” with her song “Never Forget You.”
“I am honored to be here because all the artists that are honored here in this room, they didn’t get here by chance, they got here by taking chances,” Rhett said.
