Questions After the CMT Music Awards
Couldn’t work up the courage to live blog the show, but here are a few assorted thoughts:
- How’d Justin Moore get the prestigious ‘singing along to a video game as we go out to commercial’ slot?
- Which gas station does Jason Aldean work at? What happened to his own work shirt and why did he have to borrow one from a female coworker half his size?
- Anyone else think he was going to bust some chairs with that Wrestlemania-like entrance?
- Last one on Jason Aldean: did he really yell out “C-M-Stee Time!” or did I just misunderstand him?
- How’d Darius Rucker manage to make me like “Alright” even less?
- Will we ever see another Taylor Swift performance that doesn’t involve a costume change? Even she seems bored by that routine now. Really, a robe? Oh, I thought she was going to perform the whole song in a robe. Got me! And for the big dramatic change she… fumbled out of the robe. Slick!
- Anyone else want to see all the pictures taken by the lady with the bright red autofocus light seated at the upper right behind the main stage? She must have gotten some amazing pictures of the backs of people’s heads. Totally worth the constant annoyance of her red light flashing right into the camera the whole time.
- Who mapped out the stage and camera angles? Did they not account for the fact that award winners would need some way to get offstage… and it might be best to route them in such a way that the at-home audience can’t see them stumbling off in the distance as host Bill Engvall tries to move the show forward?
- Speaking of Bill Engvall, could we at least have tried to disguise the fact that his jokes weren’t going over very well? They kept cutting to some of the most serious facial expressions I’ve ever seen.
- Why’d Engvall spend about ten minutes recapping the entire show at the end?
- People get paid to write award show banter, right? Wow. How do I get that gig?
- Those people who were jumping up and down to every song… were those real people?
- Even the people in the very front row? So there were a bunch of strangers looking up the dresses of all the women who wore ‘em short (hello Kellie Pickler)?
- How excited do you think Jamey Johnson was about winning the $15 monthly subscription to Rhapsody? Suppose he might have preferred a performance slot on the show instead?
- Do normal people care about who anyone is wearing on the red carpet?
- Who was Zac Brown wearing on the red carpet?
- Remember when Trace Adkins used to perform songs other than “You’re Gonna Miss This”?
- When will the country albums by Def Leppard and the B-52s be out?
- What did you turn on right after the show to cleanse yourself? Willie Nelson’s Spirit for me.
I totally missed this show…on purpose. Thanks for braving it, because I have no doubt that your questions were the highlights. I have a question regarding your questions though. What do you mean about Jamey Johnson and a subscription to Rhapsody? They didn’t give him a subscription to it, did they? Because that’s what I’m imagining now, which seems insane….and funny:)
Also, lol to the Trace Adkins question. Wasn’t that song so last year?
“• People get paid to write award show banter, right? Wow. How do I get that gig?”
You totally could, though your talent would be better served for somewhere than the CMT awards for sure.
“You’re Gonna Miss This” is almost so two years ago – it came out in 2007
I only caught bits and pieces of the show, but man…that was strange….reeeeeeeally strange. First off, I know it’s easy to hammer the presenters’ banter at an award show…but, i’m with you CM…that is easily some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard. Most of the stuff didn’t even make an attempt to be funny. Everything that i caught just had a feeling of awkwardness attached to it, from Swift’s opening skit with T-Pain, to Engvall’s hosting, to the extremely bizarre performance collaborations. Seriously, Keith Urban and Jason Aldean doing “She’s Country”? Heck, the lame material Urban’s been releasing lately is better than that piece of tripe. And Sugarland and the B52s? I admit that I don’t much care for either of those acts…but I can’t imagine who would want to watch that. What do the B52s have to do with country music? Of course, for that matter, what does CMT have to do with country music?
The saddest part of the whole night may have been seeing legitimate talents, like Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Martina Mcbride, and Jamey Johnson sitting on the sidelines, watching this fiasco. They couldn’t have enjoyed this thing without large amounts of hard liquor. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s how Jamey survived it.
Kudos to you, CM, for watching that whole thing. I about went insane after suffering through 30 minutes of it. Were there ANY good things in this show?
I actually was working in the box office at Sommet Center last night (I’m just everywhere these days!). Most of the staff was making fun of the whole mess even before the show started since they’d seen rehearsals. It really did feel so forced. CMT ceased having artistic integrity a long while ago, so I’m not shocked about what transpired. I’m sure ratings were decent because Taylor was involved, but I think it would’ve made sense to have the show during the week of the festival. It sure seemed like an afterthought. Oh, well!
Was Lee Ann Womack there? Given her rolling-eyes appearance at the ACMs, she would’ve likely had a conniption fit with all the other stars you mentioned.
Leeann: As they went to a commercial, they mentioned that Jamey had won some Rhapsody award that entitled him to a free home audio system and a Rhapsody subscription… seemed more like a consolation prize at The Price Is Right than official recognition at an awards show.
Mike M.: Good things on the show last night? Hmm… I’m thinking…
Blake: Pretty sure Womack was there. She was on the red carpet beforehand, at least. I do think they should have turned to her for some excellent reaction shots during the show. The ACM eye-rolling was great.
Yeah, that’s pretty much what I imagined from your question. Definitely strange. He won a prize for being there, a door prize, it seems? I’ve never even heard of such a thing at an awards show. If prizes, rather than awards, aare going to be given out, i’d think they’d go to attending fans, not actual artists.
I watched some of the show last night, but wound up leaving it on mute most of the night while I read. I agree with what has been said about the show and pretty much expected exactly what happened. My question is, isn’t anyone concerned with overexposing Taylor Swift? From the sales numbers last year she is responsibile for a huge part of country music album sales and I’m sure that CMT is aware of her impact on its ratings. I’m not ripping Taylor, but at some point doesn’t her management or the label have to reign things in if only to prevent saturation. Also, she should avoid leaning on dude’s that are more than twice her age, that was creepy. Who has ever had this career trajectory? Is there any reason to believe she can keep this up? Hasn’t the country music community learned its lesson about hitching its wagon to one particle star/style/group/etc.?
Sorry, if that kind of got off topic. I guess I should have been drinking last night with Jamey.
Is there footage of the Lee Ann Womack ACM eye rolling? I would love to see it.
I missed the ACM’s, can someone further explain Lee Ann Womack’s eye rolling? after which performance/part of the show did she do it?
On the red carpart last night, during Nashville’s news 2 coverage, they said in their peice, ‘some people were opposed to T-pain attending’ then they cut to them talking with Lee Ann who said, ‘I’m so over that, dont even get me started.’ and she was shaking her head and had a really disgusted look on her face. I competely agreed with what she was saying.
I can’t remember what provoked Lee Ann’s eye roll; I just remember that it seemed like a good summary of the whole show and made me like her more. Blake, do you remember what it was in response to?
During the opening number of the ACMs (which I honestly thought was a decent show this year), the “big stars” performed a medley that was wrapped around the Brooks & Dunn hit, “Play Something Country.” The irony was that the acts involved were Swift, Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Sugarland, all of whom are questionable in their country-ness and who performed some very un-country snippets during the medley. A pan to the audience showed Lee Ann Womack with a real deadpan, dumbfounded look on her face that said, “This is country?! You’ve gotta be sh*&$ing me!”
Okay, just keepin’ it real, but I’m going to have to admit that I just watched the Taylor Swift skit and thought it was amusing. Sorry Lee Ann….and to all of my blog friends who think I’m crazy.
lol…hey, I don’t think you’re crazy for that. I didn’t really like it when i first saw it, but that may have been because it was surrounded by so much junk. Seeing it a second time might change my opinion.
If it makes you feel any better, i kinda liked the skit with Swifty and Kerry Collins in the football uniforms. Of course, that’s probably because, like Collins, I’m a Penn State graduate, and a staunch supporter of all things Blue and White. Take that for what it’s worth, but, at least it’s something positive I took from the festivities last night.
I’ve decided she amuses me because she reminds me so much of my teen sisters who also amuse me. I was charmed by the self deprication too.
At least Lee Ann has the right opinion on T-Pain appearing at the awards.
Kellie Pickler was awesome on the awards! Fabulous outfits and great performance as always =)
Taylor Swift was horrible though, by herself and with Def Leopard – her live vocals were some of the worst I’ve heard from her
My big disappointment was the lack of Miranda Lambert… she wasn’t there; no red carpet, no presenting, no appearance in the audience, and no performance – nothing! =(
If you were Miranda, would you show up for this two hour long douche chill that was the Country (alledged) Music Telivision Adult Contemporary / Pop Rock Awards show or spend the evening getting smashed on Wild Turkey and Shiner Bock?